A Ninja and his Dragon
by TheSecretUchiha
Summary: Alone in the middle of the woods, Naruto is set to spend several days away from the abusive civilians before returning to Konoha. However a shocking discovery in the stone walls of his cave sends him on a new adventure with a new friend. Will be sasunaru.
1. Chapter 1

This story was started many years ago, and, having been looking through all my old stories, I decided this one has potential.

However this also means that the first six or so chapters are not the best writing I've ever done. At this point I was someone who enjoyed putting Naruto through the worst situations and hatred, so it's not going to be great for him for the first maybe three chapters, just to warn you.

I would rewrite it if that wouldn't involve rewriting several thousand words and thinking up a new way to have naruto end up in a... certain situation.

Also, this story uses concepts from the Inheritance Cycle, though no characters are used. If you haven't read these books, it doesn't matter as it will be explained as the fic proceeds, and if there is something you would like confirmed, don't hesitate to message me!

Additional note to those who are waiting for updates with 'Meldarion' and 'revenge'. SORRY!!! Both Meldarion and Alex are being extremely stubborn, so I looked for a story I _can_ write and am hoping this will help start to get ideas flowing!

Either that or this will also end up as another partly finished story!

For Revenge readers, I'm seriously thinking of seeking help for Anthony Horowitz himself, cause i know exactly what i want to happen, but can't seem to get around the particulars. I have run through the scenario so many times my head is close to imploding!!! so i'm hoping this will help with getting the ideas flowing again.

But anyway, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Wish i did, but i don't. Also do not own the concepts used in Inheritance Cycle, though I do own the dragon in this story!

**Warning!!!: this story will involve YAOI!!!**If you don't like, I'm sorry you've read all these author's notes until now, but I don't want to hear people dissing pairings. I don't go around other stories saying how i hate the pairings they've used, so I would appreciate the same respect in return. And for those who do like Yaoi pairings, sorry, but it could take a while to develop! Just know that it's coming!!!

* * *

Chapter One: Of Dragon Eggs and Riders

Naruto was scared.

That's as much as his mind was able to take in.

He had fled the village last night, trying not to be noticed by the villagers as he made his way quickly out of the village to avoid the troubles the next day would bring him.

However only halfway to the gates he had been spotted, and forced to run away from quickly growing crowds before they could drag him down. Because it was all over if he got dragged down. So he ran faster, leaving the village behind through the safety of the gates and fleeing into the forest for the next few days until things calmed down enough to return. He could still hear the angry shouts following him from the village, telling him not to return and to rot in a ditch where he belonged.

He continued away from the voices, stumbling many-a-time over his feet in his haste, ignoring the mass of bruises and cuts until they became too much for him and he collapses against a tree trunk, hugging his knees to his chest and weeping.

"Why?" he whimpered, through the torn fabric of his shorts. "What did I do wrong?"

However, as always, no answer came and he was left to himself for another night. One more night in the world alone for the young blonde. One of the last nights alone in the world for the vessel of the kyuubi.

After many hours of sobbing, and a slight amount of rest before the cruel breeze woke him, the protagonist of our story pulled himself up, set on surviving the horrors of these woods just to, "Prove to the stupid villagers that I'm not weak!", he was going to be Hokage after all.

And so he continued his path through the dense wood, trying to find somewhere his six year old mind would deem safe for him, eventually finding it when a long, sharp cliff came into view and several meters away a dark cave. By this point his mind was shutting down, quickly accepting the most closed off place as safe, rather than a potential den of a beast. However this time he was safe, for the beast lurking inside had been waiting a long time, and soon, would finally enter this world from the hardened shell it lay dormant in now.

Waking up the next morning, Naruto slowly forced the cricks out of his body from sleeping on the hard, stone ground. The light shone slightly into the cave, allowing him to see his surroundings. Much was like he had expected as he looked around, much like other caves he had spent the night in. What caught his attention though, was the glint of gold hidden near the back, nestled in between two outcrops of rock. Carefully, his mind easily recognising the value of this rock, if not for just the prettiness, he attempted to pull it from the outcrop only to find it successfully lodged in. After several minutes more trying, his hands beginning to bleed slightly from the sharp rock on either side, he took a step back and looked at the rock. Normally, if his attempts at something he saw no profit in failed he would move on – it wasn't essential to his dream anyway – but this rock was drawing him in, he was transfixed with the almost egg-shaped golden stone. He could feel something pulling him towards it and he wasn't going to let it go. So he set his nerves and began slowly attempting to tear at the rocks surrounding his prize, his hands bloodied after the first few minutes and still he continued, every few minutes pausing to give the stone a comforting rub. The rock wore away slowly, standing much assault from the young blonde yet as the hours passed by, the child not even noticing his stomachs painful calls for attention, the rock slowly began to give and, as the sky was turning from pink to dark blue he attempted once more to pull the treasure from it's prison, it's gold now also covered in red from the constant rubbing from the blood-soaked hands, and finally the last few pieces of shingle fell from the outcrops of rock and the stone came free, into the warm embrace of the tired boy as he fell backwards, cuddling it against his chest carefully, not wishing any harm upon the stone. 'It's mine, my own little one.' He thought to himself, placing a light kiss upon his most precious thing once, then twice before closing his eyes.

* * *

The next morning, when the boy opened his eyes, he did so with a smile on his face for the first time in many months as he spied his treasure in his arms safely. Pulling off the jacket the old man had given him recently, to find it was torn and bloodied from his escapades, he gently laid it on the ground before placing the stone in it tenderly and placing it back in the covered alcove as he left to find food.

He had fled into the forests of Konoha the two years previously as well so by now he was rather skilled at finding food. His quick feet and swift body aided him, not just in survival but pranks as well as the village ninja's – up to low jounin – found it difficult to track him successfully. And he was only six.

Knowing he would be staying another few nights at least he tightened his will and slowly crept upon a deer, silently praying forgiveness for taking an innocent life, before he lunged, landing a quick blow to the back of the animal's head with his joined fists. With the force he applied the animal was dead, he had learnt to put large amounts of strength behind his attack after the first time… it had made him swear to always kill on the first strike and ensure the animal was dead before doing anything further. After checking, he slowly began to gut the animal, burying the remains to attempt to not attract any predators. He dragged the carcass back to his temporary home, retrieving dead leaves from the surrounding area to make a fire before setting traps around his home to make sure he wouldn't be slaughtered by animals in the night.

Then he set to work starting the fire, it would take a while to be strong enough to cook anything on so, after several attempts, he was able to use a weak version of the goukakyu no jutsu that he had seen proper ninja use. His was still incredibly weak but he wasn't going to complain if he couldn't get it bigger. Right now, he didn't need it to be. Skinning the deer and taking the necessary flesh for his dinner, he used the fur, wrapping it comfortingly around his stone, a fond look in his eyes as he watched the way it reflected the fire in it's golden glow, the red having stained onto it slightly causing him to frown as he placed the meat on sticks over the fire to cook. He took the stone out gently and pulled his flask of water out to gently wet a rag before rubbing his bloodied smudges from the stone's perfect surface, a smile gracing his face as he continued caressing it's edges tenderly before gently placing it back in it's bed and moving back to take care of his dinner before he gets too caught up in it's beauty.

Finishing his dinner he doused the fire, not wanting any animals to chance his traps to get to the heat, and cuddled down, bring his stone to his small chest with it's bedding covering it and his chest. His eyes drifted closed contentedly, and his mind barely took in the pulses of warmth being emitted from the stone cupped between his arms, however second later he was jarred awake by a cracking noise, feeling pressure on his left arm. Quickly wide awake in case of danger he looks around to find out what awoke him, only to end up looking at the stone between his arms. Slowly cracks begin forming along the left side, his eyes widening as realisation took his mind, 'What sort of creature has eggs this big?' he wonders to himself, his eyes shocked as pieces slowly began to fall away, however his arms locked in place, holding it against his chest still even as larger shards fell away and a claw emerged. He tensed then, as another did, and with a push a large segment fell away and a head emerged, golden, with large amber eyes blinking slowly up into his and small ivory horns on either side of it's head above it's eyes like eyebrows and then one row starting at the centre of it's head and continuing down it's neck as far as he could see. He gently and slowly, so not to startle the creature, lowered himself and the egg – which was so obviously now not a rock – down to the ground and placed the remains on the floor where the small baby creature began kicking it's back legs, already strong enough to throw the pieces off viciously. Now Naruto was unsure, he wasn't _scared_per say, but he was unsure what this new development could entail. Suddenly the creature sniffed eagerly at the air, it's stomach rumbling and a high-pitched squeak emitting from its mouth, demanding food now. He smiled, in spite of himself, and knew he would look after the small baby as he had the egg. This was still his baby to look after. He turned quickly and began cutting chunks of food with the kunai he had brought with him from the dead carcass. After he had several large chunks he cut them into small strips and stretched his hand out of the baby. It suddenly was unsure, sniffing at him cautiously but backing off, evidently not confident enough to come near him.

"Hey, it's alright. I'm not going to hurt you. Come on, take the piece of food, it's good." He spoke gently, lulling the small creature gently into trusting him, and rather quickly the animal moved towards him, taking the food from his hand, careful not to actually touch him. Chewing on the food twice before swallowing evidently it was satisfied with the food on offer and came back for more, slowly chewing it's way through the meat Naruto had cut. He was just beginning to wonder if he should cut more when the animal's tongue touched his hand as it took the food. The contact, while pleasant, caused an odd burning feeling in the palm of his hand and slowly, the pain grew until he closed his eyes as it became unbearable and he pitched forwards, surprised when he heard almost panicked cries from the creature just before he lost consciousness. Only several minutes later his eyes opened again, blinking as they re-acclimatized themselves with the dark cave, only to meet large amber eyes peering back from an inch away from his face. He gave a startled yelp, the creature jumping too and backing away to the wall of the cave. Slowly his beating heart calmed and he remembered what had happened. Looking at his hand he noticed he couldn't _see_ any difference in the light given, however when he ran his other hand over his palm, a smooth lump was obvious, causing him a slight amount of panic before he forced it back. For some reason it didn't seem to bother him that much, after all he had had whisker like scars on his face since birth, why would a smooth lump in his palm bother him? Looking round to find the animal he spotted it crouched at the back of the cave, seemingly scared by his reaction. He smiled gently at it, and it squeaked again, "Shh. It's alright. I'm sorry I scared you little one. Come over here."

More quickly than he expected the creature retraced it's steps back to him, crawling into his lap and curling up, it's eyes looking up at him as he gently placed a hand on it's neck, rubbing it down beside the line of spikes along it's spine, pleased when a gentle keening came from his mouth at the contact and he felt a warm tingling in the hand he had used, noticing his palm glowing slightly. He immediately put that to the back of his mind at the baby in his lap pushed against the hand again for more attention. Smiling, he consented.

* * *

Next morning Naruto panicked when he found his arms empty, only to turn and find the young creature poking it's nose into the dead carcass, sniffing quickly.

"Good morning little one. You want something to eat?"

the little golden creature looked round at him then, eyes bright and playfully bounded towards him, small, frail, ribbed wings he hadn't seen before in the dark opened at it's sides and carried it slightly farther in one of it's bounds and to his feet where it padded at his legs, obviously pleased to see him. He smiled down at it before scooping it up in his arms, feeling a strange feeling pressing against his mind, similar to the feelings he was going through at the moment, only from another. He looked at the creature carefully, taking in it's innocent eyes and playful flicks with it's tongue against his face. "Those feelings are coming from you, aren't they?" he asks gently.

The golden baby nuzzled it's head against his chin, Naruto taking that as confirmation and rubbing gently behind it's ear, "Are you hungry?"

It nuzzled again and he chuckled as it's horns lightly tickled the underside of his chin.

He sat down, placing it in his lap again as he began cutting meat for it, fending away it's playful snaps at the meat as he cut it.

"Wait until I've cut it up properly, then you can eat it."

It continued attempting to grab the meat so he experimentally thought his orders, pushing them in his mind in the way he had felt those from the reptilian creature earlier. He simply said, 'Wait' to the baby, using the image of the creature sitting patiently to emphasize it and he was pleasantly surprised when the young hatchling stopped squirming and focused it's eyes up onto Naruto. He smiled down at it and continued cutting the meat until he was sure the baby would handle it. Then he smiled again and offer it a piece. It's head leapt forward, mouth closing around his fingers and pulling the meat out from them, tongue licking the blood off them once the meat was gone, then looking up at the young blonde pleadingly.

He smiled and continued feeding the creature in his lap until it wouldn't take anymore from the significantly smaller pile that he had made at the beginning. He then took the chunks, skewered them and began a fire using a goukyaku again, this one stronger than his last. Pleased he set the meat to slowly cook and went out, taking the baby with him knowing it would take quite a while for the meat to cook. He scouted the area, as he didn't have much time yesterday after his work at releasing the egg. Together they found a stream, wide but shallow and Naruto bathed, soaking the sweat and dried blood from his body. His eyes widened as he heard a splash from where he had left the baby sitting on a rock and then a call for help entered his mind as he turned and found the hatchling struggling to stay above water.

With two large bounds he scooped the baby out of the water, checking it as much as he could for injury as it thrashed in his arms before stilling, it's claws dug into his shoulders and head placed over his left one.

"Shh. It's alright, I've got you. Don't worry. I'm sorry, I should have stayed closer and kept an eye on you. You were just curious, weren't you? Let's get you back to the cave and dried off," he whispered gently into it's ear as it shivered against his body, obviously terrified from the ordeal.

He quickly sprinted – as fast as his little legs could carry him – back to his temporary dwellings and wrapped his charge in it's blankets again before pulling his food from the fire and offering some of the heated food to the trembling creature after blowing on it to cool it for the young creature's tender mouth.

It took the food offered, chewing it slightly before mewling at him. He felt that curious sensation again, against his own mind and knew what the creature wanted, picking it up in it's blankets and placing it in his lap, gently running his hands over the creature again as it calmed down and the shaking stopped.

"Is that better? You wanted comfort, not warmth? I'm sorry, I'll look after you better from now on!"

The baby looked up at him, a surprising confidence in it's eyes and he got the impression it was thinking something along the lines of; 'i'm sure you will' causing him to smile in appreciation.

* * *

A week passed by in much the same manner, with Naruto feeding the young creature – he still did not know of what species it was, some sort of winged lizard? – and then exploring with it, teaching it what little he knew. Not that he was dumb, he just had never had anyone teach him before and what he knew had to be figured out by himself. So he talked with the dragon, it being the first companion who had ever seemed to enjoy his company, from the croonings and keenings he received from his words and gentle nuzzling when they sat quietly together. He received the shock of his life when he woke up the fifth morning to find himself alone, 'Has it run off, deciding it doesn't want to be with me anymore?' he asked himself seriously, rather hurt at the thought. However quickly after that thought squeaks were heard from outside – deeper in pitch than when it was first born – and he raced out to find the creature rushing back to him, a dead bird caught in it's jaw. He rushed up to it, wrapping his arms around it almost harshly and whispering for it not to worry him like that again as tears slipped from his eyes. The creature accepted the hug, it's eyes looking at him apologetically as it licked the tears from his face after dropping the bird. He soon released it and rubbed it gently, congratulating it on managing to hunt for itself, thinking to himself he was glad he had removed the traps from his cave in case of a situation like this.

However what surprised Naruto the most was the extreme growth spurt it had gone through, he was only six but still! The creature was close to reaching his shoulders and he was able to sit on it's back without causing it any strain or discomfort, however it couldn't yet fly with him sitting there.

And the link between their minds seemed to have been getting stronger, until it managed to echo words he had used in his head – causing slight frustration to the blonde – but he soon realised this was a learning process and it was merely learning how to speak with him.

Then one night, as they lay together in the cave, his friend – for that's what the creature was now, his first friend – curled around him with a wing covering him to preserve his heat against the cold he felt that consciousness pressing against his again and smiled, welcoming the feeling. However he gasped as the feeling pressed further than ever, pushing into his mind and soaking up all the knowledge he held there as he waited for it to finish, the feeling of having another's mind in yours strange, yet also rather comforting, as it was a presence he trusted. Once it separated from his mind again, settling with rubbing against it a voice spoke in his head.

"I'm sorry for that Naruto. Can you forgive me?" he started at the male voice and turned to look at the creature, pleasant shock covering his face.

"Is that… is that you?" the creature nodded his head, revealing it's teeth in what Naruto recognised as a smile. "You… you can speak with me now?"

another nod and the, now obviously male, creature bowed it's head next to naruto's and licked the tears of joy that he didn't know he was emitting, away.

"yes Naruto. I'm sorry for entering your mind like that without permission but I couldn't wait to be able to talk with you like this. So I needed the knowledge you hold to do so."

Now Naruto shook his head, stroking the creature's neck, "It's alright. It was strange, but I didn't mind it. It just took me by surprise."  
the creature dipped it's head in acknowledgement, "it was strange for me as well, but enjoyable. To be able to be bonded fully with you, seeing inside your mind. You're everything I could have ever wanted in a Rider, Naruto."

The term used caused the blonde to look up into his amber eyes, blinking in confusion, "Rider…? What does that mean?"

The creature sighed, laying it's head next to naruto's as the blonde continued to stroke the thick neck gently.

"I am – as far as I know – the last of my kind in the world. I am a dragon Naruto, a creature of myth. My race died out many, many centuries ago and I was left, hiding in rock until an earthquake created a crack, and then you found me. I must thank you for your hard work getting me out little one, I saw the pain you went through to do so and it hurt me to know I was hurting you. But as soon as you had touched me I had known you were my Rider. You see, dragon eggs – well some of them but I will explain the others some other time – will not hatch until the right person touches their egg. Each dragon looks for something different in their human companion. I looked for goodness in their heart. Even though you were the first person to touch my egg I knew you were the one. A rider and their dragon – or dragon and their rider – are bonded, for their lives – which are exceedingly long if lived naturally – and no one can understand the bond they share if not bonded to a dragon as the rider is. The riders are just as legendary as the dragons – humans recognised the riders and the dragons as but a fancy means of transport – however the human relies on the dragon as much as the dragon does the human. If the dragon's rider was to die, the dragon would also die due to that part of their soul becoming missing, and most likely vice versa, though there have been some cases where the Rider lived on, though not many. You see, because of the bond the two share, if one were to depart this plain of life, the other would have a part missing from them and they would not be able to continue living anymore." He paused for a brief second in contemplation of what else to say when Naruto spoke.

"I couldn't bare to live without you, even just after these few days."

The dragon smiles and nuzzled the top of the young blonde's hair, "Me too, Naruto."

He sighed and looked around with his mighty head before continuing, "when I was born into my egg, my parents and fore parents could tell their time was coming to an end. They probably didn't know I was to be the last, but they knew close enough to embellish my egg with all of their knowledge. It seems they were right, there is no sense of the old ways – neither magic nor dragons – and your society has moved on greatly. You will become a ninja, Naruto, I will make sure of that, but I will also teach you of the ways of the dragon and rider, of magic. It will be long and hard but I know that you will be able to accomplish many great things from what I teach you. I can sense that you will have few problems with magic – other than control – but that is a problem we all face. But for now let that not bother you, you need sleep and I will not have my rider stumbling around tomorrow discombobulated due to tiredness!"

Naruto laughs at the parental tone in the dragon's voice, "Hey, I'm older than you!"

"But I'm taller, and larger, and can fly, so what I say goes!" the dragon says childishly, snaking a tongue out between it's teeth to waggle at the blonde, causing him to laugh.

With a yawn, Naruto leans his head back against the scaled, golden leg extended as a pillow and closes his eyes, only to blink them open seconds later.

"Hey, you never told me your name…"

The dragon's amber eyes looked down on him and said, almost sadly, "I have not got a name Naruto, that is up to you."

The blonde smiled, closing his eyes again as his breathing softens, "Alright, can I name you… Evrae."

* * *

So, what y'all think???

Please let me know if you think it is worth publishing the rest of the prepared chapters and continuing to write this fic.

Also, just now i have categorised it as a 'Naruto' fic only, even though it uses concepts from Eragon. Do you think I should put it in the crossover category, even though no Eragon characters will be used?


	2. Chapter 2

May as well publish this one just now. As a side-note, the rating may go up as the story progresses. Hope you're all enjoying so far!

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto or the concepts used from The Inheritance Cycle.

* * *

Chapter Two:

After two weeks out in the wilderness Evrae had grown larger than Naruto, standing easily a head above him, which he loved to rub in, much to the annoyance of his Rider. On the tenth day they had finally succeeded in flying together, much to Naruto's fear and intense joy. He had been absolutely terrified as the Evrae had launched both of them upwards, above the tree line and further into the blue, cloudless sky. His hands had dug into Evrae's neck until his dragon had told him, quite bluntly, to, "Stop being such a little girl, relax, and take in the view."

After that, and with much pouting, Naruto had released his death grip and taken a glance around, his arms ready to return to his neck if anything should appear suspicious. However nothing did and the rest of the flight had been extremely enjoyable.

They had flown everyday since then, to empower Evrae's wings and muscles, and had started becoming more daring.

It seemed that Evrae also understood the fundamental basics of being a shinobi as well, for he instructed Naruto on how to apply his chakra to stick to Evrae's back. He hadn't quite mastered it yet, but soon he would. He also had Naruto repeating his basic kata for several hours each day, much to Naruto's dismay until Evrae informed him directly that if he wanted to become a ninja, he needed to put in some effort. Naruto had been a bit miffed by that comment, but none the less, realised its truth; he hadn't been putting in much effort, he had been goofing off. So he put more effort into his practise after that.

His first flight had left him with another problem. The scales from Evrae's back had caused blisters on his thighs and he was thankful they hadn't been up for too long. Evrae told him that, to counter than, the Riders of old fashioned saddles to provide protection between them and the dragon. So, using the deer skins they had built up until better material was provided, Evrae instructed him on how to make one used for speedy travelling and comfort, informing him moulded saddles were used to impress, but he didn't really need that.

Soon Naruto's kata's were easily flowing from one to the next, a drastic improvement on the messy grappling style he had used before and, on the sixteenth day he managed to use his chakra to stick to Evrae, telling him happily as Evrae flipped upside down to celebrate. Naruto almost lost his lunch at the sudden lurching feeling and Evrae righted himself, apologising as Naruto steadied his stomach as much as he could.

"Do that again!"

And like that they had continued pivoting, accelerating, descending, flipping and any other form of manoeuvre they could think of as Naruto used his chakra to keep him steady. That night they slept deeply together, comfortable in each other's company.

However they both knew that Naruto would have to return to the village soon. Over two weeks was a long time to be away, even though they both knew not many would worry.

So, on his eighteenth night, Evrae curled up around Naruto, so as to comfort him when they spoke, and told Naruto of what he had found when he had entered his mind so many nights ago.

At first, Naruto was stunned. He couldn't understand why he hadn't been told – there was never a question in his mind that Evrae was lying, he wouldn't lie, he knew that. Then it all made sense to him, the hateful looks, scathing remarks, people ignoring him and pushing passed him painfully, causing him to fall to the ground. It hurt that the old man hadn't told him. He had always wondered what it was he had done wrong, why the people hated him so much, he had deserved to know! His thoughts started building up, layering one on top of the other until suddenly it all stopped, the touch of a jaw against his, comforting him, he knew he was being foolish. He couldn't blame the old man, he had done his best to look out for him and he knew he was only trying to help him in the long run. And he was glad, he was completely glad that Evrae had told him, and that Evrae had been the one _to_tell him. With a sigh, Naruto reached up and hugged the large neck just behind the jaw, whispering 'thank you's to his best friend.

The dragon 'hmm'd deep in his throat, glad at his Rider's response to the news. He was proud. He could feel that easily as he looked down at the young boy who had fallen asleep in his claws. He would never have as much love for anyone as he did for Naruto.

* * *

When the three-week point came around they knew it was time for him to return. He had stayed too long and they both knew it, but neither had wanted to part.

Naruto smiled, "Look after yourself Evrae, don't stay out of range of our bond for too long at a time, alright? I'll try and sneak out as much as possible to come and see you!"

He hugged the golden dragon's neck, trying to keep the tears at bay.

"You take care of yourself too, Little One. Keep on practising hard each day and I will too. Someday, we'll have a chance to show what we can do together. As Dragon and Rider we'll take the ninja world by storm! Try and keep out of trouble from now on though, alright?"

Naruto nodded, not looking up in an attempt to hide his leaking eyes.

"There's nothing wrong with crying Naruto, as long as you don't let it happen too much, as long as you don't quit and cry instead of trying. Crying when you're parting from someone is alright. It just shows how much you love them and are going to miss them."

Naruto looked up as the dragon looked down on him fondly, his eyes showing loving similar to that of an older brother. And he let all the tears fall out, hugging the dragon's neck again tightly as a foreleg lifted onto his shoulder to show support as his tongue licked up the tears.

Naruto chuckled at the feeling before pulling away, knowing if he didn't go now, he wouldn't.

Placing a kiss on the nose of Evrae, hoping it wouldn't be too long until he managed to see him again, before turning quickly and sprinting away.

Evrae's eyes followed him, tears flowing down his own face now, "Oh, Naruto. Stay this strong for me. I will always be here for you and I hate that we have to part this soon, but whether in weeks, years or decades, we have eternity together, we will be together, even if it is in solitude from the rest of the world. Wherever you go, I will follow you, my Rider."

* * *

Arriving at the gates to Konoha, looking slightly worse than he expected after his long run, he was met with resistance as the two Chuunin guards simply sneered at him, refusing to let him into the village until he could prove his citizenship. He knew they knew who he was, he knew why everyone knew who he was now, thanks to Evrae, so it was obvious why they wouldn't let him pass.

When it became obvious asking and begging wouldn't get him through he tried another angle, "well can I see Oji- I mean Hokage-sama then? He would know it's me." He looked up hopefully at the two Chuunin only to receive more sneers.

"Yeah right, you could be an assassin, trying to get in for an attempted murder of our beloved Sandaime."

Naruto rolled his eyes discreetly at this, 'God they were stubborn.'

"I don't think I have enough chakra to be able to kill the Sandaime. He would easily be able to disarm me if I even attempted to move against him." He stated, obviously.

The chuunins raised their eyebrows, "There's proof, how many six year olds know about chakra, huh? Not many. And any good jounin can hide their chakra."

Naruto sighed, "If I was 'any good jounin' and 'attempting to murder your beloved Sandaime' I would have just killed you already for wasting my time! But-"

"Is that a threat!" they immediately took positions, drawing kunai with smirks on their faces, obviously thrilled at this attempt to attack with an excuse.

Naruto took a deep breath, keeping his temper in check and sighed, "Fine."

With that he began walking away from the gates, the guards behind him smirking, not being able to wait till they could tell everyone they had gotten rid of the kyuubi brat from Konoha once and for all.

However, when he was over ten meters away, and they began turning away, deciding he wouldn't be able to attempt to get in without their noticing, they turned back quickly as he suddenly expelled chakra from his feet, flipping up fifty feet into the air and landing on top of the gate before shooting off with another burst of chakra into the village before the guards could do anything.

"Shit." They both deadpanned together.

* * *

A knock at the window caught the hokage's attention. It was a favourite way for many senior ninja to enter for some reason but usually they just opened it themselves without any warning, thus the knock drew his attention.

His eyes widened significantly as he saw his favourite – not that he could openly admit it – six year old standing on the side of the hokage tower, waiting for entrance.

Now, not only was this shocking because the boy had been missing for three weeks, but he was _standing on the side of the building using his CHAKRA_. He had most certainly not been able to do that before.

Taking a moment to wipe his eyes and check again to ensure the hours of paper work weren't finally causing him to crack, then check the chakra signature to find it was, in fact, Naruto's then finally he stood and opened the window, letting the boy in with a whine. "I thought you were never going to let me in Oji-san!" he said while jumping up and hugging the old man around his waist.

That was when the Hokage noticed his dirty clothes, ruffled appearance yet sparkling eyes, as if he had just been on the biggest adventure.

The Hokage however, also checked for any wounds on the boy, before realising the kyuubi would have healed them, and sitting the boy down on his couch and telling his secretary that he would be busy and not to let anyone in for the next half hour.

Then he took a seat next to Naruto and made the boy look at him, "So, Naruto, are you going to tell me where you've been?"

His eyes didn't waver as he replied, "You know I always leave the village on my birthday oji-san, ever since that time I… I just decided I wanted to stay out there longer this time, train by myself and live without the glares or anything. So I stayed for three weeks and then came back. Stupid Chuunin guards wouldn't let me in but I outsmarted them!" he smiles, evilly making Sarutobi sweat-drop.

"How exactly did you 'outsmart' them Naruto?"

Naruto looks back into his eyes, innocent blue ones sparkling, "Oh, I didn't do anything _bad _per se, I just flipped over the gate and bolted before they could stop me!" he says the last part really quickly.

At this the Hokage raises an eyebrow, "Flipped _over_the gate Naruto? That gate is nearly 50 feet high. How did you manage that?"

Naruto chuckles at the man's foolishness, "Same way I just climbed up your wall and knocked on the window Oji-san. I used my chakra!"

The man, for several seconds had a blank look, before ever so slowly a drop of sweat slipped down his head, "ah." Naruto bursts out laughing, happy to hear Evrae doing the same from wherever he is.

'Remember, don't say anything about me!' he whispered into his head even though Naruto already knew to do so.

"But when did you learn to use your chakra Naruto? You have terrible control! To be able to learn to climb up walls and flip over gates in just three weeks is pretty astounding…" he faded off, as if pondering something.

"Has someone… or something, been teaching you Naruto?" he asked suddenly, looking straight into the blonde's eyes, making Naruto do all he could to focus on that mole on his left cheek.

"No Oji-san. Who would teach me? I'm a monster."

And suddenly the great Hokage faced something he had never wanted to face. He knew it would happen sometime, but not so soon! Someone had told Naruto, that he had tried to keep hidden from the boy since his birth.

"You… know?"

Naruto shrugged, "Heard people talking about it on the street before I left. It was pretty easy to figure out." He turned to look straight at the old man who was trying to decide how to deal with this.

"Look, Oji-san. I don't mind. I figured out basically what happened and can understand that if it didn't, the whole village would probably have been a pancake. I don't like it that I got a fox demon stuck in my stomach, but I can't do much about it now, can I? It's just…"

The old man looked up to the young boy as the boy looked down, his blue eyes staring at his knees as he teared up slightly, "I just wish you would have told me, rather than let me struggle to figure out why everyone hates me."

And as soon as the phrase registered with the Third he realised his mistake. Letting a whole village hate a boy but not letting them say why was worse than telling him he was a demon and why. The boy knew he wasn't a demon just because he had one sealed in his stomach, but he didn't know what he had done wrong to make the entire village hate him.

"Oh, Naruto! I'm sorry," and he closed his arms around the child's body as sobbed wracked though him, causing him to hiccup into the old man's robes.

"Shh. It's alright Naruto. I'm sorry for making such a big mistake but I'll tell you now, when the fourth sealed the demon in you, it was a last resort, he didn't want anyone to suffer knowing they had a demon sealed inside them, but he wanted you to be the _hero_, to be the one the villager's thanked. I don't like to say this about my village, but he put too much trust in them. Now hush, calm down and I'll do anything you want in return for causing this to you. You can have my hat, my seeing-sphere that you wanted, anything!" he cried, desperate for the young boys forgiveness.

The boy stiffened slightly in the man's arms before pulling away, wiping his eyes and looking into the hokage's eyes.

"Oji-san… I want to know my heritage."

The Hokage froze on the outside, inside his mind was working overtime, 'Could he tell him? He promised to Minato, but he just told Naruto he would do whatever he wanted… and he had had things held from him for far too long.'

He sighed, rubbing an aged hand down his wearied face causing Naruto to feel slightly bad, he knew the old man didn't want him to know his parentage.

"Oji-san, if it's some sort of secret, I won't tell anyone, I swear! I just… I just want to know that I did have some parents at one point, have names so I can have some proof of their existence, and maybe if I ever hear mention of them I can think privately to myself, 'that's my dad!' or something! I don't know. I can't say how I would feel but I won't tell anyone, please!"

And fresh tears entered Naruto's eyes as he begged with all his might to finally be given this. To be allowed to know he did have parents who had cared for him, he had not been dumped, as the villagers said, because his parents didn't want him.

'Little One…' a voice whispered tenderly in his head, giving him some comfort as the Hokage looked back at him and his heart stopped beating waiting for his answer.

"All right Naruto. I'll… I'll tell you who your parents are. Just give me a minute to get everything ready."

Naruto nods, his eyes wide with excitement causing the Hokage to smile slightly, 'I just hope he doesn't hate you for this, Minato'. He thinks as he gets up off the couch and uses chakra to activate the seals around the room to prevent people from entering and retrieving a small box from inside the safe behind his picture of Konoha.

He was surprised when he turned back to find Naruto on the floor, tracing a line along the chakra flowing through the wood.

"Hey, Oji-san, what does that chakra do?" he asked curiously, evidently he could never be too excited to be curious. The Hokage smiled at this thought.

"It activates seals around my room Naruto. The seals prevent people from entering, listening, seeing or any other method they could use to find out what I'm about to tell you. This is a top secret that only I in this village, and one outside of it know."

Naruto gulped before nodding and jumping back onto the sofa, watching the Hokage as he took a seat opposite him this time and placed the box on the table between them.

The box itself was beautiful, black with inlaid gold inscribing a gorgeous pattern and picture onto the surface. The sides were laced with gold ivy, focused around the corners and spreading into the centre to cover it lightly. The top was emblazoned with two cranes, standing by a pond surrounded with reeds and several willow trees to the left. The sky clouded slightly but with the sun still leaking through.

He took this all in with a glance before Sarutobi drew his attention again. "Inside this box, Naruto, is your inheritance. I'm not going to force you not to tell anyone, in fact I think there are some people who you may want to tell, they could tell you more about your parents than I could, but I want you to be discreet, and make everyone you do tell promise not to spread this. However I'm sure they wouldn't think of it, if they were close to either of your parents they were good people, no one could be anything else if they spent time with those two. Your parents' names… were Namikaze, Minato and Uzumaki, Kushina. You were given your mother's surname as she was the last of her clan and it was unrecognised. However your father's surname many high-classed ninja's knew. Either enemies or friends, that's why it was hidden from you. If you went round declaring yourself as Namikaze, Naruto people would realise, from your appearance as well. I'm truly surprised no one has ever questioned it before. Your father-"

"It's the fourth, isn't it?" Naruto suddenly asks, his eyes lowered so he isn't looking at the Hokage, "The Yondaime, who sealed Kyuubi into me, is my father, right?"

the third sighed, knowing this would be difficult to comprehend for the boy if he just figured it out, but Naruto looked up, an odd weariness the Hokage found disturbing showing in his eyes, but then he smiled, albeit rather sadly but there was still his normal brightness in it.

"I kinda guessed he was. He's always been my inspiration. When I was younger, and always dreamed of having parents, I used to pretend the fourth was my dad, and he would come and take me away. Then eventually I realised that, it wasn't going to happen, he was dead. But the possibility of him being my father grew. I didn't tell anyone, they would scoff and knock me aside if I mentioned anything, so I kept it to myself, but, I've always sort of known. I'm just glad you can finally confirm it for me."

The Hokage smiled sadly at the boy and moved to sit next to him again, "Yes Naruto, Namikaze, Minato, The Yondaime Hokage, was your father. He loved you so much and hated doing this to you, but he-"

"Don't explain it Oji-san, I'm glad he did what he did. If it saved this village then I'm happy he used me as a sacrifice, or jinchuuriki as I hear we're called now."  
The man smiled again and drew Naruto into a quick hug before releasing him and taking the box.

"Now, in order to keep your heritage secret you can't let people see you with this stuff Naruto. I'm sorry I have to give you it and tell you not to use it but until you become atleast jounin level it was decided you weren't strong enough to defend yourself from your father's enemies."

Naruto nodded, his eyes however on the box in front of him causing the hokage to laugh and flick it open gently.

Inside, there were only four things. Two headbands, a kunai pouch and a scroll. He knew what he wanted the most but didn't say anything as the hokage handed him the pouch.

"These are Minato's own kunai that he used in his signature technique the Hiraishin no jutsu, it was capable of incomparable high speed as he moved instantaneously to the place another kunai lay because of the seals ingraved onto each one. Now Naruto, it is the most important thing that I ever ask you that you never let these kunai get into the hands of any other village. You can release the kyuubi back on this village if you want but don't let _anyone_touch one of these kunai. And never use them until you have mastered the technique, or melt them down if you aren't going to learn it. I don't want to make light your responsibility as the kyuubi-host, but it would be possible to seal the kyuubi again, albeit harder, I'm sure the beast wouldn't be as stupid to fall for it easily again, but if these got out it would be impossible to stop them. I doubt anyone could ever master it like Minato did, with the exception of you quite possibly, but it would still prove extremely dangerous. The only people who can ever see these kunai besides myself and you, are called Hatake, Kakashi and Jiraiya of the Sannin. Kakashi was your father's pupil – one of the people you could tell about your heritage, Jiraiya being another – and your father gave him personally one of these kunai's to use if he's in trouble. But don't if you're not completely sure it's him. He had silver hair which sticks up, wears a black mask over the lower half of his face and his headband slanted over his left eye. The eye under that headband is red. It's called a sharingan and he got it when his best friend died and gave it to him because he had just lost his own eye. The sharingan is the bloodlimit of the Uchiha clan, which was entirely massacred while you were away. Only one person was left alive… Uchiha, Sasuke. I think you know him?" he paused, sighing. Evidently this was still giving him much stress. "Kakashi always carries a copy of an orange book called 'Icha, Icha, Paradise' round with him. This-"

Naruto jumps up, pointing at the hokage's desk, "Like the ones you have in your second draw at the left hand of your desk under all the files you labelled 'Top Secret' to keep everyone from looking through there!?!?"

The hoakge splutters, his face turning beet red at naruto's accusations before nodding slightly, "Yes, those books Naruto. Kakashi's trade mark jutsu is called Chidori. If he proves all of this and you still don't trust him, don't tell him anything. Oh, he's also extremely tardy and lazy.

As for Jiriaya, it's pretty obvious when you see him who he is. He was your father's sensei. He had long white hair down his back and is the Toad Sennin. He is the writer of the Icha, Icha series and self-proclaimed 'Super Pervert'. If you run into him, run away, I don't want him polluting your mind."

Naruto blinked up at the Hokage, not quite comprehending why a red blush was crossing the hokage's cheeks.

"If you do want to know it's him though, ask him to show you either the summoning jutsu, which he will summon a frog – and only he can do that at present so it's definitely him – or ask him to show you the rasengan, one of your father's techniques."

The hokage sighs again, and leans back against the couch before sitting up again and pulling out the scroll. "This contains your family's scrolls aswell as messages from both your parents and anything else they wanted you to have. I don't know what's in there other than that. The seal on the scroll is a blood seal. To open it wipe some of your blood on it and say 'kai' then to seal it again wipe more blood on and say 'fuin'. Don't open it unless you're sure there's no one around, I don't know what could be in there so it could be something our enemies could use."

Naruto nods once again and the hokage fishes the last two items out of the box, handing them into naruto's eager hands.

Now these were the two things he had been wanting the most.

He looked at the two headbands, one blue with the leaf symbol, the other on black, with what looked like half the anbu symbol, with one of the swirly lines missing.

"Those are your mother's and father's. your mother was originally from the whirlpool village until it was destroyed. Treat them with care Naruto."

The blonde nodded, looking up at the old man with a huge amount of gratitude in his eyes as he hugged the hokage, "Thank you so much Oji-san. This means so much to me."

He smiled, looking down at the boy and was about to place a hand on his shoulder when suddenly the boy sprang up, "Right, I've got to get some training done before the sunsets! I'll talk to you later, alright oji-san!"

And with that, he sprinted out of the doors, deactivating the seals as the hoakge stood up with a sigh, 'God knows where that boy get's his energy from. No wait, it was his parents. God damn them.'

He goes to close the door, only to stop in surprise when he finds Naruto standing just outside the door, staring up at a jounin, leaning lazily against the wall, with his head in a book.

The hokage chuckles slightly, causing the silver-haired jounin to look up at him lazily, ignoring the boy staring up at him.

"I think you wanted to see me?"

The hokage sighs again, seriously wondering if he should retire, "That was six hours ago. Now, I think someone else wants your attention, don't keep them waiting aslong as you did with me."

Now, if the hokage wasn't so good at reading people he wouldn't have noticed the slightly crinkling of kakashi's brow in annoyance, or the way his one visible eyes darkened slightly and narrowed a fraction, or how his body tensed ever so slightly as he glanced down at Naruto.

But the hokage was good at reading people, and his heart went out to Naruto, as he knew the boy wouldn't give up until he had made friends with those his father held close. And with, what he swore would be the last sigh of the day, he made his way back into his office, closing the door behind him.

"You're Hatake, Kakashi, aren't you?" Naruto asked as soon as the hokage left and he had finished the physical inspection to certify that he did, indeed, look exactly as the hokage had described.

The older man just looked down at him with a look he knew very well from his life in the village and let out a 'tch' before turning and beginning to walk away.

Naruto looked down, slightly unsure of how to do this if the man wanted nothing to do with him. This was his father's student, one of his precious people, and Naruto really wanted to get to know someone who had known his father so well. But…

'Go after him, Little One. Don't give up. Show him how determined you are!" Evrae's voice encouraged in his head and he nodded once before running after the jounin.

"Kakashi-san! Please wait!"

The silver-haired jounin growled slightly in frustration before using chakra to jump over a seven foot wall, not expecting the kid to jump over two seconds later.

'Fluke' he told himself then continued walking, ignoring the yelling behind him to stop, until he reached a nice building and walked up the side, determined to leave the kid standing.

However the boy didn't stop, he ran up the wall after him, to the surprise of many villagers and shinobi. Most ninja couldn't control the chakra output from their feet until they were several months into being genin atleast, and everyone knew this kid was still in the academy. So they muttered and speculated, 'must be the demon's doing' and 'lord knows the Hokage should have killed it years ago'. But Naruto held back any emotions that might show because of this and continued after the jounin, watching him jump over the top of the building and following, only to hear a poof as the jounin used shunshin to escape.

The boy looked round hopefully, for several seconds, before hanging his head in defeat and jumping to the next roof as he leapt away, not noticing the jounin watching from several roofs away, a deep frown on his face, 'I hate that demon.'

* * *

So Yes. I'm being so very cruel to Naruto. Unfortunately the next chapter will be worse. But after that it will get better for him! I promise!

Remember to review or alert or something, so i can know if you all like it!


	3. Chapter 3

So, people seem to be kinda enjoying this story. Just remember to keep letting me know what you think!!!

Disclaimer: Once again I do not own the rights to Naruto or the Inheritance Cycle. I _do_ own a dragon though.

* * *

So Naruto had failed to speak with Hatake, Kakashi, and he didn't much expect to see any of the Sannin in the village, everyone knew it was rare for any of them to be there, only one ever entered the village anymore. But that was near impossible so he settled instead, on going to a training field and going over his kata again, like Evrae had insisted he do. He spent several hours, from when the sky was just tinged with pink, continuously flowing through the kata, his body quickly moving through each sub-consciously, as his mind relaxed and he entered a meditative state. When he opened his eyes again, the sky was black and the moon was part-way across the sky but he didn't feel tired in the slightest, so he gathered his chakra, and planted himself several meters up a tree and stood there, until gradually, he returned to his meditative state once more, only breaking out of it when his body decided he had done enough work and pushed off the tree, flipping lightly to land on his toes.

Then he made his way back to his apartment, ignoring any emotions he might feel about the day and focusing on the calm state his meditation left him in.

And when he finally fell onto the hard bed that he had spent several weeks away from, he spoke with Evrae, talking about how they already missed each other, and how he was proud of Naruto for taking his heritage as well as he did. And finally he allowed himself sleep as Evrae's voice gently keened a lullaby to him.

* * *

The next morning Naruto woke up and was immediately full of live. He realised he would have to put a lot of effort into speaking with his father's friends, but the hokage had said there were those his mother liked to spend time with. He could try to seek out them aswell.

Nodding resolutely, Naruto made his way to see the old man, telling him firmly that he wanted to know who his mother's friends were. The hokage smiled sadly, having watched kakashi's brutal dismissal of the boy the previous day, but the boy showed no animosity, informing the hokage that his father's friend was stubborn and needed a lot of work so he'll try his mother's in the mean time before having another go at getting kakashi's friendship.

So, smiling, sure that the two kunoichi couldn't be as cruel to the young boy, the hokage told the young ninja of Anko and Kurenai and the boy set out to find them, after briefly declaring that the hokage would have to teach him about seals so he could open his scroll in security.

'Hm, Oji-san said 'Anko' would most likely be found at the dango shop, possibly with 'Kurenai' with her… Dango shop… dango… dango…'

Eventually the shop he wanted came into view and he peeked inside, looking at all the customers quickly to find his target. Sure enough, at the back of the shop in a booth to themselves were two ladies, one with long, black hair and red eyes with a strange outfit on, the other with short purple hair and snake-like eyes and a rather _revealing_ outfit.

He pushed through the door, trying to remain unnoticeable as he made his way to the table, only to find himself knocked to the floor by a waiter, "Get out of here Brat. We don't serve people like you!" he spat visciously at the boy, glaring down at him.

But Naruto shook his head and flipped himself up, avoiding the arm that reached out for him and scurried to their table where the waiter wasn't foolish enough to follow – they all knew of Mitarashi, Anko. She'd deal with the brat.

As he reached the table, the one with long hair – Kurenai – looked at him, before looking away as if she hadn't seen him. 'So she's one who pretends I'm not here then'.

And the other didn't even bat an eyelid at him, as if she really _hadn't_ noticed he was there.

That scared him, and he was almost tempted to leave, but these people had known his mother, even if it was when they were six years younger.

"Are you Yuuhi, Kurenai and Mitarashi, Anko?" he asked, tentitavely.

Both continued ignoring him so he continued, oblivious to the clenching of the short-haired woman's fists on her stick of dango.

"I heard-"

"I don't give a damn what you heard kid! I'm trying to eat my dango just now so unless you got a damn good reason to be here you should get your ass out of my sight now!"

The whole shop went quiet, and those who hadn't been watching before most definitely were as Naruto stood there, shaken but gathering his nerves, "no."

Her eyes pinned onto his immediately, "What did you say?" she asked, in nothing more than a dark whisper.

He trembled slightly before looking straight back into her eyes, "I said no. I won't go until I know if you two knew-"

The sound of glass breaking filled the entire street as he's knocked through the window of the shop, an angry kunoichi following straight after him, sending civilians running in any direction to get away from her.

"You do _not_ disturb me and ignore what I'm telling you to do when I'm eating dango! You hear that brat?" she asked placing a foot on his head to prevent him getting up and bending down close to him to whisper, "Now unless the village is being destroyed by Orochimaru and I have the chance to kill that snake-fucker, you will never disturb me again, got that?"

he nods, tears threatening to fall from his eyes at the pain and upset got to him, only resulting in the kunoichi mocking him more.

"Aw, the little baby wanna cry? He want the nice kunoichi to kiss it better? Well screw that kid. You stay away from me, and we'll both be happy." She said, pushing her foot slightly harder against his skull for emphasis.

"Anko, let's go." They both look up at the black-haired chuunin as anko removed her foot and the raven haired one glanced down at the blonde, "Don't come near either of us again."

And with that they walked away, leaving the boy to pull himself to his feet dejectedly and stumble away from the scene.

Managing to reach an enclosed training field, surrounded by trees, he let his tears out, crying to Evrae through his mind, "Please. Don't ever reject me like that Evrae, I couldn't bear you to say things like that to me!"

And quickly the deep voice of the dragon reached his mind, 'I won't Naru-chan. Don't worry. I'll be with you forever. The two of us, immortal with each other. I'm coming to where you are Naru-chan, don't move alright?'

"It's dangerous though, you… you could get caught!"

'I'm not going to let you cry by yourself, I need to be with you to know that I'm able to comfort you when you need me Naru-chan. Please, just stay where you are, I won't be long.'

Resignedly Naruto nodded, leaning back against the tree behind him and waiting. Soon enough the sounds of displaced leaves, limbs hitting trees in haste and the pant of his dragon's breath met his ears and he turned as Evrae barrelled up to him, enveloping his neck in a hug as Evrae licked his cheeks to get rid of the large tears that continued to fall.

'Sit down Little One. Sit down and rest. I won't leave and I'll make sure no one disturbs you.'

And by this point, Naruto couldn't argue anymore, his body ached from the beating Anko had given him and he was emotionally exhausted as he drifted off to sleep, Evrae's lullaby echoing in his head again.

* * *

To say the hokage was angry was an understatement. He was furious, livid and enraged. Most specifically with three ninja's.

So he called the three of them to his office, making the two kunoichi wait in tense silent, perforated thickly with his anger, until the third ninja arrived a record hour and a half late. Must have been the quickest he had ever arrived and yet it was doing him no good today.

"Now, I hope the three of you know why you're here…"

Kakashi seemed nonplussed but the two kunoichi seemed to have a slight inclination.

Realising he was waiting for an answer Kurenai spoke, "yes sir, The uzumaki kid."

The hokage ground his teeth angrily, "Yes, 'The uzumaki kid'. His name is Naruto, he has feelings, emotions and yet you and the rest of the village seem to disregard that. And I've had enough. This ends today. The three of you have pushed me too far after I told him good things about each of you, and have just disgraced two other ninja's who's names everyone holds in high regard. So, shall we discuss the issues you might have with Naruto and I'll solve them for you."

None of the gathered ninja seemed to want to say anything so the hokage glared at each of them, before settling on anko.

"Mitarashi. You can start. What did Naruto do to warrant being thrown through a window before being violently assaulted further as you happily attempted to break his self-confidence?"

Anko bit her lip, unsure as to what to say to that question until he forcefully demanded an answer from her, "WELL?"

"He… disturbed me sir."

"He disturbed you?"

"yes. I told him that he should leave unless he had good reason to disturb me. He didn't, as I could plainly tell we were not being invaded."

"And that is the only reason one could possibly have for interrupting your time whilst eating? There couldn't be any matters other than that which would require him to stay and disturb you?"

anko quivered slightly, she couldn't remember ever seeing the Third this mad, "There… there could have been."

The third glared at her, "So because he was disturbing you, you punched him, sending him through a window and beat him? I fail to see how that is fair. And then you taunted him because he's weak? Do you think he's weak anko?"

She knew what he wanted her to say, but she wasn't going to take this because of that brat, even though she knew she had pushed the line well past breaking point long ago, "I do sir."

He remained silent, lips pursed before turning to look at the other kunoichi in the room,

"And you Yuuhi. You didn't do anything to prevent the unjust attack on Naruto and only spared him words with hate. What do you have against the boy?"

she bit her lip, glancing at anko quickly before back at the hokage, "I cannot speak of it, sir."

He once again ground his teeth together, feeling small pieces break away into his mouth from the friction, before continuing in a false-light-hearted manner, "Ah, I see. You think him to be the kyuubi."

The gathered ninja gasp lightly as he breaks his own law in mentioning the demon. But the Professor ignored the three of them and turned to Kakashi.

"Hatake, I have to say you were my biggest let down of the three of you. I thought that you, of everyone in the village, might have followed the fourth's wish and accepted Naruto. Now out with it, your reasons for being so cruel, for looking at him with such hatred?"

Kakashi took a slight breath, seemingly in wonder of what he was going to say until he suddenly burst out, hatred in every sentence for the one he was speaking about. "He's a god damn demon! He killed so many people six years ago and I saw it all. He took my sensei from me! The last of my precious people! The last of the people I wanted to protect! He should be dead, and Minato-sensei should be here instead! I hate him, and I will never accept him! He's a demon, and a murderer!!!"

The other two stood silently in shock, having never expected the normally laid back jounin to respond with such animosity as that. But their thoughts were cut off before they could begin as the hokage spoke again.

"But he's not even strong. There had been no sign of the kyuubi's strength in him, or any acts of demonic tendencies, how can you say he's a dem-"

"He used his chakra to run up walls and flip over fences, normal kids only learn that when they're thirteen! There's no way he's not a demon, he's too strong and skilled!"

and finally the hokage's face lost his hatred, filled only with deep despair, "I'm glad you said that Kakashi, for so many reasons."

He stood, looking out of the large window over the village, "I almost loath this village for what they've done. Unfortunately I don't have it in me, and neither does he."

He turned suddenly back to face the three of them, "Naruto knows of the kyuubi. He knows it's sealed in him, he knows who did it and why. And he doesn't hate any body for it. Not the fourth for doing this to him, because he understands why he did it and is glad he did if it means keeping the village safe; not the villagers who have been biased against him since the day he took his first breath and had his fate sealed, for he understands their need to hate, but I am close to finding it in myself to hate these people for him."

He turned again, his breathing suddenly harsh, "Kakashi… you said he was too strong to be normal… and yet anko is calling him weak. How can he be both?"

Before they have time to respond he continues, "he is strong, not only physically but mentally. You said he was too young to be that strong. You're right Kakashi, he is, but he's been forced to become that strong because otherwise he won't survive. He is _SIX_ years old, and you're throwing him through a window anko, and then beating him into the ground, he's following you Kakashi, wanting to know more about one person and you ignore him and only look at him with hate until you lose him by force, and Kurenai, you do nothing to stop it."

He breathing is still ragged as he attempts to calm it before apparently giving in and continuing his rant, "Kakashi, how old were you when you graduated the academy? Naruto hasn't even tried to graduate yet and he's one year older than you were. You said it was unnatural to be so strong that young. He is so like you it hurts me to see you pushing him away. He's so alone and _no one_ in this entire village gives a shit about that!" he punches his desk suddenly, causing the entire thing to collapse and the three ninja to begin to fear for their safety.

There was several minutes silence in which he panted, trying to regain his composure but not quite managing as he turned back to face them.

"I told Naruto, very good things about each of you, and because of that he pushed himself to get to know you, so he could know more about his parents. I told him you knew them best and that if you were friends with his parents then you could only be good people. So, not only have you potentially ruined the trust Naruto has in me, you've just ruined his feelings for his own parents and their own names in his eyes. I hope the three of you are proud of yourself, cause you have just potentially ruined the names of Uzumaki, Kushina and Namikaze, Minato, in the eyes of their son, Namikaze, Naruto."

The shinobi's brain slowly took it in, as the third collapsed back onto his chair, more exhausted than they could ever remember seeing him as he looked into their eyes one at a time again.

"That's all he wanted to do. Meet each of you, and find out more about you and his parents. I… I told him how good you were. Gods, he must hate me so much right now. And just after he had got back aswell! I wanted him to be happy knowing his heritage! Not this, this… this is the worst possible thing that could ever have happened! I can only pray what I said about Jiraiya holds true when they meet."

And the three ninja stood awkwardly as tears flowed slowly and painfully down the old man's face, imagining the pain he must have caused the boy.

And as it became apparent the hokage would not say anything else for a while they each turned to their own thoughts, what they knew or had seen of the boy.

* * *

He had knocked, several times, but even though the room was silent there was still no answer and it was beginning to worry him. 'i'm sure he's just reading that orange book again, he can never pay attention when he's reading that' Naruto thought to himself before deciding it can't be important if no one's talking and there's no anbu posted at the door.

"Oji-san?" he asks quietly as he pokes his head round the door only to freeze as four sets of eyes locked onto him, three of which he didn't want to run into quite yet but, he had decided, if they didn't want to be his friends, then he would have to force them. So he pushed the door open cautiously and shuffled up to Anko. He didn't dare look into her eyes, therefore missing the uncertain look marring her features as he stopped infront of her.

Hesitantly, he bowed, waiting for the painful rebuke and abuse as he spoke, "I'm sorry… for interrupting you. It's won't happen again!" he started tentatively barely managing to finish with more conviction.

Now, normally when Naruto tried to apologise when he must have done something wrong – although he doubted that now – he was hit, in some way or other, thus it became his natural reflex to stiffen immediately. And as expected he felt pressure applied on his back. But it felt different. There was pressure, but no pain, and his face was tilted up suddenly, to end up staring straight into the snake's eyes, unable to look away because of the firm grip on his chin.

"no." he attempted with more effort to look away then, used to having his apologies rejected and knowing that that meant. Apparently it wasn't what he thought it did as she gently placed her lips on his forehead, "_I'm_ sorry Naruto-kun."

He gaped slightly at her as she pulled him into a hug, then declaring how cute he was when he blushes, simultaneously cutting off his oxygen supply as he was engulfed in any perverts dream. (Insert sneezes from vast majority of Konoha males) when suddenly he felt a strange… heaviness in the air around him, tracing the source back to Kurenai as Anko continued to hug him.

"Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique" she whispered before Naruto quickly found himself replaced with a cushion.

"She's not great at sensing my genjutsu. It'll be a while before she realises it's not you." Kurenai smiled gently down at him, completely different from how she had been earlier, making him wonder if that had been an impostor.

It wasn't likely but then again, this was very unlike earlier, he thought as she too leant down and kissed him, on the cheek this time, giving him a cheeky grin when she pulled back causing him to blush. Then she too pulled him into a hug, apologising for her earlier actions.

'This is just too weird Evrae… why are they acting so kind now?' he questioned with his mind, only to receive no response, obviously he was too far away.

'all this needs now is for Mr Mean over there to hug me and say he's sorry for being so horrible to me!' Naruto thought, laughing at the stupidity, not noticing as Kurenai moved away and the jounin stepped infront of him.

When he did notice the tall and intimidating form infront of him he took a hesitant step back, looking up into the man's one visible eye but unable to get anything from it. Just as he was considering running from the room the man ducked down to a crouch, bringing his head level with naruto's and ruffling his blonde locks, "Sorry kid, I guess I'm still too tightly wound after sensei's death. I'll make it up to ya, you wanted to know about your dad, right?"

Naruto looked back at him, surprised, "Oto-san…?"

Kakashi nods, pulling him suddenly into a hug, placing his arms around his back and holding him close, whispering into his ear so only Naruto could hear, "I am _so_ sorry about what happened, Naruto. I don't know if I can ever make it up to you or your father but-"

He stops as Naruto suddenly pulls away, "You want to make it up to my father?" he asks, with surprising bite in his words, leaving Kakashi too confused to do anything other than just nod.

He turns to Kurenai, and Anko who seems to have just dispelled the illusion, "And you, my mother?"

They nod too, all three completely confused at his actions, even more so when the hokage suddenly stands, saying in a softened voice, "Naruto! Wait."

But it was too late as the six year old had already left the office, slamming the door behind him.

"What was that about?" the three jounin ask simultaneously as the hokage sighs.

* * *

He quickly hopped across rooftops, making his way to the one place in the village that seems to appeal to him now.

* * *

"naruto's always grown up alone. You all probably know he's always wanted to prove himself, work for things and be rewarded for his hard work. to him… you just said you were being kind to him to make it up to his parents. He never would want things given to him because of who his parents are. If he gets something, it's because he's worked for it, because he deserves it, not because someone thinks that by helping him they're paying off their debt to someone else. He never wanted to know you because his parents were your friends, he wanted to know you because you were his parents friends!" the hokage announces to them, letting them draw a blank for several seconds before Kurenai speaks up, "I don't understand, hokage-sama…"

the hokage growls, obviously irritated because there weren't getting it.

"Because his parents were your friends you feel like you owe him something. Naruto doesn't see that at all. He doesn't want you to feel like that. But because you were his parents friends, he knows that from you he'll have insight into them. He'll see what his parents were like when they were with you. You could tell him stories of his parents he would never hear anywhere else but he doesn't want that because he's their son. He wants that because he's a nice person. He wants you to think of _him_ as your friend, not him as the _son_ of your friends. You see the difference? You see the way you make it sound almost like a chore to become friends with him. Naruto's been living his life, having to look for deeper meaning in everyone's words since the age of three. It's just natural he would make assumptions like that but you didn't make it any better by thinking it yourself."

The two females still looked confused but the perverted-jounin nodded, "I get it. Thank you."

And with that he left the room, in search of his new little blonde friend.

* * *

He had only been lying there for twenty minutes when Kakashi found him and lay down beside him, also using his chakra to hold him in position.

"You know if you keep this up, you'll suffer chakra depletion, and that can get serious." Kakashi warned him with a lazy voice.

"If I didn't need food and water I could stay up here for months without running out of chakra. I'm the kyuubi, remember?" he asked before rolling onto his side to face away from the jounin who sighed and placed the book back in his pouch.

"Naruto, I'm sorry for what I said earlier but throwing a tantrum like this is pointless. What would your parents think?"

Naruto huffed but refused to face him, "I wouldn't know."

'Approach no. 1 – failed. Move onto no. 2' Kakashi thinks to himself.

"Well come on, I'm sure you've sulked enough. God knows how long you spend sulking in your apartment each day." 'That didn't come out as gently as I wanted it to.'

Now Naruto snorts, "Yeah, only God would know. No one else gives a shit."

'Keep your temper down. This is Minato's kid. Minato's kid. No! Naruto. Naruto.'

"Come on Naruto, give me a break. I'm not good with this whole upset kid thing, heck I'm not good with kids. Just… cut me some slack I'm trying my best!"

and suddenly Naruto turns to stare at him, "Why should I give you a damn break? When have I ever been given on single break in my entire life? And I have to deal with a whole village of people hating me! Why do you deserve a break when you have such a great life compared to the shit I have!?!"

kakashi's patience snapped and suddenly he was pinning Naruto down whilst holding a forearm against his throat, "Now shut up! I'm sick of hearing your winy voice. You just go on so much about how bad you've had it. You're not the only one who's had it bad, and you don't hear me snivelling about it like you are. You have no right to moan and bitch when other people are probably suffering a whole load more than you! Atleast you've got people who… people who…"

he looked down at the boy, who had begun panting for breath because of the arm pressed tightly against his throat whilst tears ran down his face because of the angry jounin holding him.

"Naruto… I'm sorry. I just keep on doing this. I can't do this. I'm just hurting you more!" he pulls away, making a move to stand up when something collides with his chest, crying into his jounin jacket, fisting their hands into the green material.

Kakashi sits back, pulling Naruto against him and rocking the boy gently to give him comfort of sorts.

"Just… just cause I'm… crying, doesn't mean th…that I'm giving… up on anything! I'm still going to be the hokage… and… and the best… Rider ever…" he fades off as he falls asleep against the jounin's chest.

Slowly the jounin, stroking the boy's hair gently as he shifted him into his arms and carried him back to the hokage's office, to find the old man waiting alone, the two women gone.

Upon seeing the boy cradled in his arms the hokage smiled, thankful he was alright before his eyes crinkled slightly as he picked up on something, "he's been crying."

Kakashi nods, "he had a lot to get off his chest."

He takes a seat opposite the hokage, the desk still lying destroyed between them, "you said… that he managed to teach himself chakra control? He went away for three weeks and came back knowing it?"

The hokage nods, silently regretting the fact the boy has to leave the village.

"Why did he go away? Was it authorised?"

and the hokage sighed – which he had been doing a lot recently – "It's never official. But since he was three he's always gone out of the village by himself, into the forests for several days around his birthday. He said he stayed longer this time because he wanted to be alone, training, away from the villagers. So no, it's not authorised but it's necessary."

Kakashi sighed, looking down at the boy in his arms, knowing this was going to be so… troublesome but just looking at him made him more than certain he would be happy with his decisions. "I want to train Naruto."

This causes the hokage to raise an eyebrow, "Oh, and-"

"I also want to adopt him."

The hokage's stare hardens, looking over the jounin infront of him for any failings or weaknesses he might show in his decision but none were offered. He held the stare directed at him evenly, determined to show the hokage he really meant this.

"Why?" the question was sharp, no doubting the hokage was serious about this boy's well-being.

"Minato…" he hadn't started off great with the hokage by allowing that to be the first word out of his mouth, but he knew his reasoning and, to him, it made sense. "Minato was like a father to me after my own died. He helped me overcome the tough hurdles I had put up for myself. Minato – like my father – was stolen from this world and I want to follow the lessons sensei gave me on life and help Naruto through his. This isn't because of Minato, it's because of what I think I can give to Naruto."

They stared into each others eyes for several minutes, Kakashi attempting to force the hokage to see his point of view, and the hokage watching for any signs of deceit or any thoughts of hurting Naruto in his eyes.

Finally accepting that this decision was 100% Naruto friendly he nodded, "I'll have the paperwork ready by 11am tomorrow. If you even dare be a second late stepping through my door, you can kiss the papers goodbye."

The jounin nods, an unusual seriousness in his eyes.

"I'll see you tomorrow then Hokage-sama."

Standing he turned and left the room, Naruto still cradled safely against his chest, light as a feather.

'hm, that could cause problems with his training' Kakashi mused as he walked home, ignoring every glance thrown at him but returning every glare thrown at his precious cargo with like, much to the surprise of the villagers.

Just as he reached the front door of his house, a loud, over-exuberant, ball of green spandex leapt at him, attempting to barrel him over while screaming salutations at him. It was all Kakashi could do not to bang his head repeatedly on his door, so he settled instead on using one hand to grab Gai around the neck as he flew past for a second time and hold him to the ground, "Shut up!"

And quite unexpectantly he did, noticing the orange bundle supported in his other arm.

"Isn't that…" the (ho ho ho) green giant whispered quietly as he peered at the boy. Kakashi's eye's narrowed, preparing to correct gai, "Uzumaki, Naruto? He is most youthful indeed! Why, just these past days since he returned youthfully from his training outside the village, I have seen him in the training hard in one of my usual training spots. Several hours of training he did before I stopped watching him and left him to it. His katas are indeed perfect already, such a pity the academy style is so flawed. Such dedication from one his age! Such…" he seemed to struggle for the word before his eyes lit up, "YOUTH!!!"

and suddenly the door was slammed on Gai's persistant babble.

* * *

Watcha think then?

So Naruto's about to be adopted and that's the end of the Naruto torture, I swear!

Next chapter out tomorrow (In English time, no idea what time it'll be in any other country!)


	4. Chapter 4

Okay, so the response so far has been good! Thanks so much for all your love!

Disclaimer: Don't own.

* * *

Of Punctuality and Lessons

Naruto's eyes flickered open slowly and he took in his surroundings as his guard raised when he didn't recognise them as his apartment.

"Ohaya, Naruto-kun. How are you feeling this morning?" a familiar voice came from the door.

He turned to look at the jounin, his eyes narrowed in suspicion, "Where am I?"

Kakashi smiled, evident by the curling of his one visible eye, "My house, and starting today I'll train you!" his eye curved further up in delight whilst naruto's eyes narrowed further, "Why?"

"Because I'm not going to let my chibi-blonde teach himself such hard things as being a ninja! He needs some guidance and I happen to have a lot of spare time on my hands since I quit anbu! Hurry up, we need to meet the hokage this morning and I think we should be early!"

With that Naruto was left in the room on his own, the jounin's voice carrying back down the corridor to him as he yelled, "I took the opportunity to buy you some new clothes! They're in the cupboard!"

Now Naruto was a naturally suspicious person, and it didn't help that the jounin had completely loathed his existence yesterday. So some might say he was being stupid, that the jounin was obviously being nice to him and he shouldn't be suspicious – they would be civilians. Any good shinobi worth his kunai would be cautious if they woke up in an unknown location, with people who held known hostility to you. Never the less, he cautiously peered into the cupboard he was directed to, prepared to spring away only to find several outfits hanging up, all in the normal shinobi colours – black, dark green and dark blue. Taking one outfit out, he checked it over quickly but thoroughly before pulling it on, surprised at the good fit it offered, before slowly checking it was all clear outside his room and making his way down the corridor and into the large sitting room it opened out into. Immediately he spotted Kakashi lounging on the couch as he turned to look at him.

"Hm, it suits you. There's some cereal in the kitchen, help yourself." He said whilst motioning to the kitchen to the right of the room.

Naruto didn't move however, his eyes roving over the room, looking at the distances between him, the door and the jounin before looking the jounin up and down, confirming he did fit the jounin's physical description, however a henge could easily account for that.

"Prove you're Hatake, Kakashi." He ordered, causing the jounin to look up at him, his visible eyebrow raised.

"Oh? And how would you like me to do that. Anything I tell you to prove it you could still claim false, as you don't know me well enough to know my in's and out's, figuratively speaking."

Naruto didn't budge, staring straight back at the jounin, "Use the chidori."

Instantly the jounin's eyes brightened, "Oh, the hokage has told you about my most amazing and unique jutsu then? Well, if you _really_ want to see it…"

He stood up, flicking easily through several seals before grasping one wrist with his other hand as electricity begins to form in the hand and high-pitched whistles, the sound of a thousand birds, erupted throughout the apartment.

Suddenly it all disappeared as he let the jutsu go, flopping back down on the sofa behind him and picking up his book again as if nothing had just occurred, "The Chidori. Go get some breakfast."

Now Naruto wasn't very easy to impress anymore, but that… that had definitely caught his attention. The power coming off that jutsu was enough to make his hairs stand on end. And he was now _certain_, the smallest of doubts he had held before disappearing, he was going to become that powerful, and stronger.

* * *

After breakfast Kakashi took Naruto to the hokage's office where he told him they had a meeting with the hokage to organise everything. And they waited, and waited, and waited, until Naruto finally decided to ask _when_ this meeting was.

"Not until 11am Naruto, but it's best to be early for meetings such as these."

Naruto nodded at the good advice before shaking it off, "But we arrived at half _eight_! You're supposed to be tardy, not two and a half hours early!!!" Naruto moaned loudly at him, annoyed the jounin had his book to read to entertain himself.

"Naruto, this meeting is going to decide your entire future. Even if this doesn't mean anything to you, it's important to me." Kakashi told him, not looking up from his book as he said that.

But no matter what, Naruto was still touched by his words, so much that he willingly sat back in his seat and waited patiently for the remaining hour, spending his time meditating.

And by doing that, the hour soon passed and quickly enough he was pulled awake as Kakashi stood from his seat. Following the older man in, ignoring the raised eyebrow of the hokage, they both took a seat on the near side of the new desk as the hokage retook his seat facing them.

"Right Kakashi, I've sorted out the papers for you, I assume you told Naruto?"

Naruto, assuming the hokage is talking about Kakashi teaching him, doesn't speak and Kakashi only shrugs, causing the hokage's eyes to narrow.

"You _did_ tell him, didn't you?" he asks, wondering to himself if he really wants to know the answer.

"Mighta slipped my mind."

The hokage resisted the urge to visciously bang his head repeated on the table, whilst wondering if this was Danzo's plan to get him out of office.

"You _didn't_ tell him? And you just thought you could get him to sign the forms without him asking what they're about?" the hokage asked with a sigh.

"He'll accept it."

And again the hokage sighed, turning to the slightly confused blonde.

"Right Naruto. Yesterday Kakashi came to see me about you. He asked firstly if he could train you. Then he asked…" the hokage hesitated, looking at Kakashi to be the one to tell Naruto, causing the blonde to also look at him, expectantly.

Kakashi sighs, turning to look into the adorable blue eyes facing him, "I asked to adopt you, Naruto."

Naruto's eyes lit up brightly at those words, causing Kakashi to smile at the young boy's happiness before a sudden cautiousness entered the blue, turning them slightly darker.

"why?" he asked, looking back at the desk as if he didn't want to look at Kakashi when he answered.

Kakashi sighed, 'I should have expected him to be cautious like this, after the life he's had so far it would be foolish to think otherwise.'

"Because I lost my father at a young age aswell. Don't mistake me when I say this Naruto, I'm not doing this a debt to your father, but he was like a father to me, and he showed me how much everyone needs someone like that in their lives. I'm not going to force you to agree, Naruto, I'll still train you even if you don't. but… it would mean a lot to me if you did."

He went quiet, both men trying not to look at Naruto, to let him decide without any pressure on him. However as the minutes wore on, each began getting more and more nervous and Kakashi began thinking the worst. So when Naruto sighed they both immediately turned to look at him as he looked up at Kakashi with a smile on his face, "Alright then. But after this you need to start my training!"

Kakashi smiled, a completely truthful smile for once, and leapt out of his chair, knelt infront of naruto's and scooped the boy into a hug, squeezing him against his chest as he whispered a thank you in the boy's ear.

When he let go Naruto smiled up at him, "It's not like I was going to say no! I just made you wait so long because you decided to drag me here hours early!"

Kakashi sweatdropped, looking into the blue eyes that had captured his heart in just days, "I will always be on time from now on, but just for you Naruto."

The bright smile the boy gave out, took away all the annoyance the jounin had felt for his prank and as he took his seat again, he saw the hokage was also smiling brightly, his eyes filled with unshed tears.

"Very well then. Now you've both agreed you just need to fill out the forms and then get out of my office, the two of you have caused me too much grief for me to stand much more of you!"

They both smiled, proud of themselves for that feat and Kakashi quickly began filling out the forms for adoption before getting Naruto to stand and pointing to the places where he had to sigh, watching the boy suspiciously as he carefully filled his name out in each place, leaving it sloppy despite the level of concentration he put into the work, also noticing the way Naruto refused to look at him after writing it.

'Does he feel guilty for not making it neat like mine? Or… does he feel embarrassed because it's not what it should be for someone his age?'

However noting the discomfort it fed into Naruto he didn't mention it and simply handed the forms back to the hokage who checked them over quickly.

"This all looks in order. Yep, alright," he stamped his seal at the bottom of the final sheet and smiled up at the both of them, "Everything's done. Congratulations the two of you, you are now officially family. Now hurry up and leave my office."

They smiled and Naruto jumped out of his seat, bursting out the door as Kakashi strolled lazily behind him.

"Don't forget you've got to teach me all you know about seal Oji-san!!!" Naruto yelled back as he reached the end of the corridor, causing Kakashi to chuckle when he heard a loud sigh from the hokage's office.

* * *

The new family strolled down the streets of Konoha, Kakashi with book in hand. However his attention was anywhere but as he watched the blonde boy bouncing down the street.

"ano sa, ano sa, where are we going Kakashi-san?"

He put his book away, to give the impression that he had been reading, "Hm, just call me Kakashi, kay? And we're going to go to a training ground I like to use. You wanted to get started on your training didn't you?"

Naruto nodded and fell in step with the elite jounin, his eyes watching everything going on around him, so that when a civilian stuck out a leg in an attempt to trip him, he easily jumped over the offending limb. The man sneered, aiming a fist out towards him which the blonde easily jumped away from.

"You little punk!"

However what he had seen was already too much for the new parent and the man found him pinned to the wall, the wind knocked out of him by the sudden movement. And when he looked up he was met with two very angry eyes, one black, the other red.

"Now, you just so happened to pick a very bad time to try that cause now I'm going to use you as an example."

The man found himself flying through the air, hitting the ground several meters away from the angry jounin at the feet of the blonde boy who quickly ran round him, and up to the jounin to calm him down.

However, for now, he ignored him.

"This is what really annoys me about you people. So I'll clear this up with you just now. No one touches Naruto. Not anymore. You try anything, and I won't give a damn about any laws put in place for your protection, I _will_ hurt you. As of today, I've adopted Naruto, so anyone who messes with him, has to deal with me."

And with that he looked down at Naruto, smiling and took his hand in his to continue walking.

* * *

By the time they reached the training grounds Kakashi was beginning to wonder if that had been the best thing to do. He wasn't worried about the consequences, but Naruto hadn't said anything since then. But just as he was turning to apologise to him for his actions Naruto smiled the brightest smile in his inventory, "That was _so_ cool!!! Train me!"

Kakashi chuckled at the fire burning in naruto's eyes, 'Aslong as Gai doesn't appear it'll be fine.'

* * *

Several hours later Kakashi had to confess he was impressed. Gai was certainly right about the academy taijutsu form having many holes, but Naruto had completely mastered it to perfection. So he had started instructing Naruto in a chuunin/jounin level taijutsu form – Yanagi Kaze ryuu or willow breeze style. He had had several possibilities in his head, however for Naruto at the present, agility and flexibility were the best options. He was thin, fast and flexible, everything needed to make the style his main taijutsu form. However, to become a master of the style, his flexibility needed to be regularly maintained through stretches and balances. So he was just about to tell Naruto how he should do that when the blonde surprised him by announcing he had already learnt how to do that from a book. The boy then tried to explain to Kakashi about what he called the Rimgar, and the different stages there were, each more difficult than the last. Seeing the jounin looking at him expectantly Naruto slowed his breathing before beginning the third level – The Dance of Snake and Crane.

To say Kakashi was impressed with the exercise was an understatement. The whole drill was of the soul purpose of balance, flexibility and spiritual balance. And seeing the extremity of Naruto's flexibility and balance made him realise he had only been using what was necessary for the Yanagi Kaze, and was easily capable of mastering the form to perfection with his level of mobililty. So he had placed himself against a tree and calmly watched as his adoptive son proceeded throughout the movements fluidly until he reached the end of the practise and gently lowered his leg from it's extension before taking another slow breath and opening his eyes.

Kakashi smiled at him as he ran over and rubbed his head, "That was very good Naruto. You'll have to teach me that oneday."

Naruto's eyes widened with happiness, "really? You really think it's that good?"

"Yep!"

Naruto hugged him round the waist again and Kakashi patted his back comfortingly before Naruto jumped away again, "Teach me some awesome jutsu!!!"

Kakashi laughed at his eagerness, while Naruto waited eagerly for him to begin.

"Alright, do you know any of the academy jutsus yet?"

Naruto shook his head, "No, they haven't done any of them yet. The only jutsu I know are the goukakyu no jutsu and daitoppa no jutsu, but I could only get them cause I watched other ninja doing them a lot! It's not anything great or anything, tonnes of other kids probably know them aswell, huh?" he asked, slightly downtrodden, misinterpreting kakashi's silence as disappointment.

"no Naruto. I don't think any other kids your age, or for the next few years would know jutsu like that. And you just learnt them by watching other people? That's really impressive, you shouldn't put yourself down so easily!"

Naruto smiled up at him, lapping up the attention.

"how long did it take you to learn those jutsu Naruto?"

the boy thinks for a minute, his eyes closing in concentration, "um, well I _learnt_ them in about two weeks, but I only got to see the jutsu afew times in that time and I couldn't practise too much cause them people would get suspicious of me. But when I was on my own training and I could practise it was really easy to get the jutsus stronger!"

"Hm, could you show me the two jutsus Naruto?"

He nods, beaming and ran several meters away from his teacher before his hands quickly fell into seals with ease, the speed of them showing he had indeed been working on them a lot.

"Fuuton: Daitoppa no jutsu!" Naruto cried out as he brought his hands to his mouth and expelled his breath.

Now Kakashi always did his best to remain unaffected by anything around him, but seeing a six year old use a perfectly controlled daitoppa and causing a long, four meter wide channel in the dirt was… different.

And then to see that the kid wasn't winded in the slightest and proceeded to run through seals for a fire technique and produce a large fireball from their mouth, several meters in diameter and still not be winded… well, that was just unexpected.

But he schooled his face back to just being impressed – rather than outright shocked – as Naruto ran back to him again, looking for his approval.

"That was very good Naruto. Now, I was thinking, how about we make this into a game?"

naruto's eyes widened in excitement, "A game? Like what?"

Kakashi smirked to himself, 'hook, line and sinker. I love kids, they're so gullible. Now to test him…'

"Well, I'll show you a jutsu, but won't tell you how to do it. If you can master it in… let's say a month, then I'll buy you anything you want."

The look in the boys eyes at the deal was completely worth however much he might break the bank if the boy won.

"Anything?"

"Yep, anything. And I'll even show you the jutsu whenever you need me to. But you're not allowed to ask other people for advice, alright? Just from seeing it, you need to learn it and be able to perform it like you did with those ones. So, deal?"

Naruto nodded and shook the hand he was offered to seal it.

"Now, show me the jutsu three times then give me space!" he ordered bossily causing the jounin to chuckle.

As slow as possible he went through the handseals before announcing, "Doton: Doro Gaeshi" and placed his hands on the ground causing a slab of earth to flip up infront of him.

Looking at Naruto he sees the boy nod, "Twice more please Kakashi."

Nodding aswell he moves away from the slab to another area as it falls back and repeats, then another time in another location.

Turning back to Naruto he smiles, "That it?"

The boy nods, a serious look on his face showing he's thinking as he sits on the ground in the place where Kakashi had first performed the jutsu, his lips mumbling quietly so Kakashi could not hear.

Smirking at his young student and… son, he returned to the tree he had previously been leaning against and pulled out his orange book, retaking the pose again.

* * *

Several hours of silence later, and upon reaching the end of the book, Kakashi looked up and continued to watch Naruto sitting in what seemed a meditative state for several minutes. Just as he moved to push himself from the tree and approach Naruto his hands suddenly snapped together and began slowly running through the handseals required.

He didn't put any chakra behind the movement so it was obvious he wasn't about to practise the jutsu, just the handseals so Kakashi began moving forwards as his hands got faster and faster.

Just as he reached within several meters of Naruto he felt chakra being built up as he opened his eyes and jumped to his feet, running through the seals quickly and placed his hands on the ground; "Doton: Doro Gaeshi!"

The ground infront of him immediately sprung upright, just slightly smaller than the piece Kakashi had earlier forced up. Standing up he looked up at the rock barrier created and then at the side to see the thickness before frowning and looking at Kakashi.

"It's not as big as yours was. I did everything exactly the same! The same amount of chakra, amount of chakra build up and I even did the handseals faster! So how come it's smaller!?!" he whined at the astounded grown up.

Trying to focus on the questions he was posed, instead of the rather intriguing rock standing infront of him he smiled at the boy, "Well Naruto, that would be because you don't have the level of chakra control I do. That means that, even though it's reasonable, you still waste a portion of your chakra while I used every part of mine in the upheaval of the rock so I raised more that you did. You still did amazingly, but you just need to practise more chakra control. Now, I think you just won our little competition but I know now that you're a quick learner, it'll get a lot harder to win from now on!"

Naruto smiled brightly when he mentioned the competition and the thought of his prize for his win.

"So, do you know what you want Naruto?" Kakashi asked as they walked back into Konoha as the sun was already setting.

Naruto's face fell from thought into a frown, "Well, um, kinda. I don't… well, no, nevermind."

Kakashi sighed and stopped to face Naruto, bending down to his height, "Naruto, I said I would buy you whatever you want, now just say what you want and we'll go buy it before the shops close, alright?"

Naruto looked back at him, nervousness in his eyes before they set into determination, "I want a sword."

And Kakashi knew his wallet was being robbed.

* * *

"Here we are then, this is the best place in Konoha for weapons. Now Naruto, if I get you a sword, you have to learn to use it properly, alright? It's not just a toy. This'll mean I'll find you another teacher sometime and you'll have to listen to their orders. This is serious."

Naruto stares back at him annoyed, "I know what this means Kakashi. And that I'll have to learn out of books until you find someone to teach me, but I want to learn kenjutsu, I already know the first few forms from a book. But if I want to be hokage, I'm going to learn every single part of being a shinobi and then fight Oji-san fair and square and take his hat!"

Kakashi smiled down at the boy's determination before sighing and pushing the door open to let Naruto enter first.

"Moshi moshi?"

Quickly a reply came from the back of the store and a man, black smears on the side of his face, entered the room and looked at the two customers, raising an eyebrow at the unusual pair.

"Kid wants a sword." The jounin replied to the silent question.

* * *

When they returned to kakashi's apartment Naruto could hardly keep still, eyes sparkling as they remained locked on the sword hanging over his shoulder.

"ne, ne? Kakashi, when can I start getting kenjutsu lessons?"  
kakashi smiled down at the young blonde, "I'll go speak to Hayate tomorrow about it, alright? He's a chuunin but is the best at kenjutsu in the village. But right now we have to get on with your lessons alright Naruto?"

Naruto jumps up and down, nodding frantically at the thought of more lessons.

"Right, you go sit at the table and I'll be there in a minute, okay?"

Naruto nods and takes his seat, bouncing up and down until Kakashi comes back with some paper and a pen.

"Right Naruto." He draws something on the paper and then shows Naruto, "This is 'a' in hiragana. You try writing it."

* * *

Thanks go to everyone who has reviewed so far, and please continue to let me know what you think.

No Evrae in this chapter unfortunatley, but it takes a while to get him into the plot properly, even I haven't written that far - though I only have another four chapters pre-written - but i know when he's making his big appearance!


	5. Chapter 5

Small Timeskip here at the start, but nothing major!

Thanks so much for all the response so far for this story! Don't have much to say today so may as well just get on with it, eh?

Disclaimer: nwo ton od

* * *

Three months later

"You really think he's ready for this Kakashi?"

the jounin nods, trying to convey his certainty to the hokage.

"To be honest he is more than ready to become a chuunin at the moment but it's his choice. He's definately ready for the genin exam. In the past three months since I adopted him he's learnt more jutsu than most chuunin. I've been making it a game for him, a bet, and each time he wins no matter how short I make the time limit. Destroying my savings! So we agreed if he could get the newest jutsu I would ask you to let him take the test now."

The hokage nods, "You know that the test will be more difficult in the middle of a term with no others taking it with him?"

Kakashi nods, "As I said he's more than ready for anything due to come his way anytime soon. He's proficient in all the necessary areas for graduation and it would make no difference in whether he took the exam now or later except that he would gain more experience if he were allowed to take it now. I am certain he is ready hokage-sama, and I won't change my mind on this matter."

The hokage holds eye-contact with the jounin for several moments before sighing and nodding, "Alright, if he is ready we can do it this afternoon when I have an examiner in for him. Don't make me regret this Kakashi," he warns as the jounin smiles widely whilst bowing.

"There's no way you would hokage-sama. Naruto's going to make a lot of people proud."

The hokage nods again as Kakashi leaves the room, finding an excited Naruto outside.

"I guess you heard already then?" he asks, excitedly.

Naruto nods, smirking, "Wouldn't be much of a ninja if I couldn't hear the two of you talking , oh so loudly, would I?"

He gives another cheeky grin and Kakashi grabs his hand and begins walking out of the tower, "Is there anything you want to do until then?"

Naruto shakes his head, "Can we get something to eat? I'm hungry!"

Kakashi laughs as the boy's stomach rumbles, "You only had your breakfast an hour ago!"

Naruto smiles, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment, "I'm a growing boy!"

Kakashi smiles and agrees, heading to their favourite café, for the people rather than the food.

Upon entering the dango bar however they find it devoid of it's usual customer so just take their usual seats and order.

'So, you're taking your exam today little one?' a voice suddenly asks in naruto's head.

He smiles slightly, already used to the sudden intrusions and welcoming each conversation to be frightened. 'Yep, I'm going to be a genin after this!'

Evrae merely hums to show his approval.

'ne, Evrae, do you think… it would be alright to let Kakashi know about you?' he asks nervously.

'Do you trust him?'

Naruto immediately confirms that he does with a mere thought causing Evrae to smile.

'Then I think that would be lovely, I want to meet the one who looks after my little one when I can't. and if he knows then you could possibly come and see me more often, I've been getting lonely without you Naruto.'

Naruto smiles sadly in his mind, 'I'm sorry Evrae, I'll try and come more often once I become a genin. it's been so hard being split up from you for so long!'

Evrae agrees and their conversation ends as Naruto hears Kakashi speaking to him.

"… listening? Naruto?"

"Hmm, sorry Kakashi, I was daydreaming. What was it?"

Kakashi shakes his head whilst smiling behind his mask, "I was asking if you're sure you're ready for this. You don't have to take it now…"

Naruto puts on a stubborn face, "You were the one telling Oji-san you're sure I'm ready! I'm not going to back down from this, I don't want to wait any longer!"

Kakashi smiles and rubs naruto's head in a fatherly manner before they both lapse into silence as their dango is served.

Eventually Kakashi notices Naruto becoming more nervous and fidgety.

"Is there something else bothering you Naruto?"

Naruto hesitates again, 'Go for it Naruto, ask him now'

Naruto nods, seemingly to himself, before looking up at Kakashi. "I was wondering if we could go on a training trip in the forests outside Konoha once I've passed my exam?"

Naruto looks down again, wondering if it was too much to ask and if Kakashi would be upset at him asking for it when he's already given so much.

"A training trip? Do you ever think of anything other than training Naruto?" he asks humorously whilst laughing. "But if you want to go a training trip, just the two of us then alright, once you pass the exam I'll take us out for a few days in celebration okay?"

Naruto nods happily whilst Evrae shows his feelings on the matter to Naruto through their link, causing Naruto to smile more.

"Thank you Kakashi-san!"

he nods whilst smiling again and they both continue their dango.

* * *

That afternoon.

"Hello, Naruto-kun. This is Hiroko-sensei. She'll be going through your genin exam with you while I oversee it all. Are you ready?"

Naruto nods, smiling kindly at the two in the room.

The woman looks down at Naruto, taking in what she can tell about him from her first impression before continuing, giving no indication of her thoughts.

"Normally a genin exam would just involve the examinee being asked to perform one of the basic three academy jutsu whilst their class work covered the theory side of the work, however, as you had just begun the academy before halting when kakashi began personal tutelage, we have little to no physical proof of your grades. Therefore your exam will cover several aspects that would be done at the academy. Firstly you will have one hour to complete a written test which covers the essentials of the academy course. Then you will perform an accuracy test, followed by a general fitness and taijutsu test. Finally you will be asked to perform all three academy jutsu. In order to pass you must do reasonably in each section," she explains in a monologue before her eyes soften slightly.

"If you aren't able to pass this test you're free to take the much easier genin exam in just over half a year and graduate with the current class. No one would think any less of you," she explains kindly causing Naruto to smile wider.

"Thank you Ma'am but I know I'm not going to fail!"

she smiles slightly at his confidence before her professional mannerism returns and she nods sharply, "If you would take a seat at the desk and write your name at the top of the paper, I'll tell you when to begin."

* * *

"Theory: almost perfect, way above average for any genin. only lost marks in areas concerning ninja history where he states only the minimum requirements."

"Accuracy: exceeds expection, every target hit well, only two not centered. General fitness: well above general, stamina of a jounin and physical strength required of a genin or low chuunin, higher than expected of a six-year old. Taijutsu: specialised style no doubt taught by jounin Hatake, Kakashi. Kaze no yanagi ryuu executed with high chuunin/ low jounin precision, effectively disabled chuunin opponent with ease. Fast and agile, enough to dodge any attacks aimed at him. Wastes energy 'playing' with his opponent, no doubt he will eventually grow out of this small problem. Ninjutsu: performed henge, kawarimi, kage bunshin aswell as several other chuunin rank jutsu or above. No further comment required. Also was able to detect unexpected genjutsu and disable it before examiner could attack.

Overall result: pass.

Examiner's note: child genius, prodigy."

Finished reading her notes the chuunin teacher looks up to the hokage to see his reaction.

She's not disappointed as he sits there for several minutes, fingers laced infront of his face and his eyes shaded as he thinks.

"I see, thank you for that Hiroko-sensei. I'll have your pay for the exam sorted out at once. Thank you for agreeing to assess the exam and for doing so fairly. Please leave your report on my desk."

She nods, leaving the room and exiting through the waiting room where she sends a quick smile at Naruto who's waiting on the edge of her seat beside the jounin, Hatake.

Descending the stairs she shakes her head, "That kid is really something…"

* * *

Upon entering the room Kakashi turns to the hokage immediately, wanting confirmation on his adopted son's results.

"Kakashi, tell me, how good is Naruto really?" the hokage asks once kakashi's infront of his desk.

Kakashi raises his visible eyebrow, "Really?"

The hokage nods and Kakashi sighs, "I have no idea. He picks jutsu up like he would a scroll. He literally sucks the jutsu up and the process is always the same. He asks me to repeat it three times, take a seat and think for a period – sometimes hours on end – then practise the seals for a minute of so before performing it, almost perfectly. Then he spends another hour or so, depending on the level, perfecting his use of it. Never has he altered from this process unless he doesn't take as long at a stage before moving onto the next. That was the case for the lower level jutsu, but surprisingly the kage bunshin aswell, though probably due to the low chakra control required. His taijutsu is impressive to say the least. It's perfect for him as he already was performing an exercise to improve it called the Rimgar. It's very interesting. Overall though, I can't say how good he is, I'm just never sure if he's giving his all or not. I keep on thinking I am, but then he'll do something to prove me wrong. He's just too unpredictable!"

The hokage smiles at this "I see. Very well, I'm assuming you are going to want to be Naruto's sensei?"

Kakashi nods, grinning behind his mask, "Yep."

"Well, you're going to have to regularly report his progress since he's so young to become a genin. and no over-training him. If he says he wants to stop, then you stop, he's still young Kakashi," the hokage warns him strictly causing Kakashi to simply grin wider.

"Hokage-sama, the day Naruto says he wants to stop training early, is the day I'll wear Gai's spandex."

The hokage pales slightly, no doubt having mental images before shaking his head, "I see, but the rule still stands."

Kakashi nods in agreement before slouching slightly again, "Is that all hokage-sama?"

Sarutobi nods, smiling at Kakashi again, "Alright, let Naruto in."  
kakashi opens the door, allowing Naruto to swagger in confidentally, receiving confused looks from both of them, as he usually doesn't get over confident about anything.

He smirks at the looks, "I already told you, you two talk too loud."

They both sigh, 'he'll make a good ninja.'

* * *

"Naruto, are you all packed? Remember we're staying for four nights so you'd better have everything you need, otherwise we're not coming back for it!" Kakashi yells down the corridor to his adopted son's room.

Seconds later Naruto barrels out with a pack on his back, grinning foxily, "I'm ready!

Kakashi smiles at the boy, hefting his own pack from the door frame to his back and nodding, "Alright, let's get going then."

Naruto yells in approval and charges out the door, jogging on the spot in anticipation as Kakashi slowly closes and locks the door before checking the handle and nodding in satisfaction.

The walk out of the village was relaxing for Kakashi, as he took in the bird songs echoing in the morning chorus and the dusty pinks crossing the sky as the sun began to slowly rise.

The walk out of the village was strenuous for Naruto, he just wanted to get out of there and take off at a run with Kakashi so he could get back to Evrae already. He could tell Evrae felt the same.

Eventually they reached the gates and, after showing the guards their forms from the hoakge for this trip, they proceeded out, still walking at a leisurely pace. After an hour of doing so, Naruto finally lost all patience and grabbed onto kakashi's sleeve pulling insistently.

"Come on Kakashi, I want to run, can we run now? I can't go this slow any longer!"

Kakashi sighs, knowing he had been lucky to have a peaceful walk for so long until Naruto got fed up. Smiling down at Naruto he ruffles his hair, "Alright then Naruto, why don't you lead the way, I'll follow just behind you."  
naruto gives a small shout of happiness whilst springing from heel to heel before pushing off and lunging into the trees and hopping from one branch to another, Kakashi sighing once more before following.

'Evrae, are you still at our cave?' he asks through his mind.

'hmm, yes Naruto. I'm waiting for you. If you get lost tell me and I'll help'

'Thanks Evrae, it took two hours to get from the cave to the village when I left, so I think we'll be there in about an hour and a half, give or take. Make sure not to look threatening or anything incase Kakashi thinks you're dangerous, alright?'

Naruto only gets grumbles in reply, something along the lines of 'dragon' and, 'meant to be threatening', but Naruto paid them no attention, focussing on where he was going.

As predicted, an hour and a half later Naruto recognised the area from his three weeks in the cave and smiled, yelling back to Kakashi, "We're almost there. Don't be too surprised when we get there!"

Kakashi just shrugs, wondering what could possibly surprise him as much as the blonde was implying. Several minutes later Naruto slowed, stopping on a branch before hopping down infront of a large cliff face. Kakashi followed, finding a large cave entrance, however his eyes were attracted to the stone at the cave entrance, where it seems something has ripped chunks of it out to make the entrance bigger. His eyes wandered the area around him aswell, noticing large scars in the trees from what look like claws and deep gorges in the ground in the shape of clawed feet.

As Naruto moves to enter the cave Kakashi grabs his arm, pulling the young boy behind him.

"Naruto, don't move alright. There's something in the cave!"  
before Naruto can respond his eyes are attracted to the entrance as something moves, beginning to exit. First a claw and then Evrae's long head emerges, causing Naruto to gasp and Kakashi to tighten his hold on the kunai he has drawn, stepping slightly closer to Naruto.

"Naruto, stay back, don't draw it's attention. I'm going to try and distract it and then I want you to run, alright?"

Naruto's attention shifts suddenly to Kakashi, finally taking note of the kunai in his hand and gasping again.

"Kakashi! No, this is-"

he's cut off as Kakashi suddenly lunges forwards at the golden beast, trying to force the kunai into his neck, only for Evrae to pull his neck back, causing the jounin to go wide.

Evrae looks to Naruto, panicked by the suddenly attack only to see Naruto looking just as worried as himself.

Kakashi, spotting the beast looking as his adopted son, jumps back infront of him to make it focus on him again. However a pair of hands on his arm, holds him tightly back before he can move again.

"No Kakashi! Don't attack him!"

Kakashi continues struggling to get free, not sure why Naruto is trying to stop him but more worried about the monster that could attack at any second.

"Tousan! Stop!"

Kakashi freezes, the word having caused his mind to numb, 'Naruto… just called me Tousan…?'

Seeing Kakashi shocked Naruto quickly runs passed him and up to Evrae who ducks his head, allowing Naruto to hug him tightly.

"I told you not to look too threatening! Tousan could have really hurt you Evrae!"  
The use of the word again caused kakashi's head to spin, but he forced himself to concentrate as he realised Naruto was talking to the creature.

"Naruto… move away from it… slowly." He says just loud enough for Naruto to hear.

Naruto turns to look at him smiling and Kakashi is about to repeat himself when he's interrupted.

'I'm not an it!'

he looks at Naruto in shock, seeing as his mouth hadn't moved at all, before turning his gaze to the creature standing just behind his… son, his eyes widening again.

"You… you just spoke!"

Naruto laughs slightly, causing Kakashi to look back to him.

"Kak-" Kakashi feels himself deflate slightly as Naruto begins his name again before cutting himself off, "Tousan… this is Evrae, and he's my dragon!"

"Y… your dragon?" Kakashi asks in disbelief, watching the golden dragon's movements carefully.

"Yep, me and Evrae are partners! He's my dragon and I'm his Rider! We're partners" he repeats again at the end, unsure of what else to add.

"And… and this… dragon, can speak?"

"Well kinda, he-"

'I can tell him myself Little one. Yes, in a way I can speak, but I have to do so through contact of the mind. I have never, or will never, hurt my Rider. He is the most important thing in the world to me!' Evrae states firmly, staring into kakashi's eyes to convince him.

Kakashi nods slowly, _feeling_ the conviction of the dragon's words. He turns his eyes to Naruto, "So this is why you were telling me not to be too surprised?" Naruto nods, smiling. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

Naruto looks at the ground, feeling bad at the slight hurt in kakashi's voice, "I was scared that you wouldn't let me come see him anymore, or that you'd take him away from me. He's my first friend!"

Kakashi smiles slightly and, putting aside his wariness of the dragon, moves slowly to Naruto – trying to show that he won't hurt him – and gives him a comforting hug.

"I would never do something like that to you Naruto. Trust me on that!"

Naruto nods, wiping his eyes slightly before hugging Kakashi back while Evrae hums slightly in happiness, causing Kakashi to tense and Evrae to emit a grumbling sort of roar, leaving Kakashi momentarily frozen before he realises it's laughter.

'There's no need to be so tense Kakashi-san. You are one of my Rider's most precious people. The only reason I would hurt you is if you intended to hurt Naruto and I can tell you would never purposefully do that. You don't have to be so tense.'

Slowly kakashi's shoulders relax, followed by the rest of his body and he smiles at Naruto, then slightly at Evrae, who dips his head in return.

Motioning to the cave he supposed was their temporary accommodation he took one of Naruto's hands in his, "Why don't the two of you tell me everything?" he suggests with a gentle squeeze of naruto's hand.

* * *

Naruto learnt quickly that, if you were enjoying something, the time quickly passed. Their training trip was over far too quickly for his liking and he found himself giving Evrae a long hug around his thick neck, promising to talk to him everynight. Kakashi smiled, a little sadly at having to make the two of them separate when they were so intertwined with one another, before placing a hand on Evrae's neck and rubbing gently before turning and walking away with Naruto, who was waving backwards frantically.

"Bye Evrae! Look after yourself! Don't overeat! Make sure to fly regularly to keep in shape! And you've got to keep on teaching me the ancient language!!!"

that's right, Naruto had just started learning of the ancient language used by the riders to weave magic. So far he was only allowed to float stones in the air, but he already found that easy enough, controlling the magic in that way was similar to chakra control, and he already had that down. But Kakashi had promised that they would come out every few weekends for him to train with Evrae, causing Naruto to shout in joy. Truly these had been some of the best days of his life.

So, not in any rush to reach the village, the two of them walked slowly through the woods, Kakashi using this opportunity to plan how he would teach Naruto further. Several hours of walking or slow jogging later they reached the gates again and soon were back in the comfort of their shared home. It was then, after he finished unpacking and when Kakashi began to cook their dinner, Naruto decided to ask the question which had been bothering him.

"Kakashi… you're… you're not going to tell anyone about him are you?" he asks really quickly after his initial hesitation.

Kakashi looks up at the blonde boy, smiling, "Not unless you want me to unless the hokage asks me so specifically I can't avoid it, but you've done nothing to cause suspicion, even I wouldn't have thought you were hiding such a big secret from everyone, so I don't think he will figure it out."

Naruto nods and smiles in relief, taking his seat at the table as Kakashi dishes out their tea, before wondering if Evrae had eaten yet.

'I have Naruto. I'm flying just now.'

Naruto smiles to himself, 'What did you have to eat? A deer?'

Evrae confirms his thoughts and Naruto continues the small talk, keeping his promise to talk every night while Kakashi just watched his adopted son contently, obviously deep in conversation with his other half.

* * *

that's all folks... for now. remember to let me know what you think!


	6. Chapter 6

Yup! This is later than I promised! ;P

ANyone who reads my fics will know by now that I'm absolutely gash at getting things out when I promise them!

But anyway, thanks for all your support of this story!

Also, the pairings are revealed in this chapter. PLEASE don't send messages complaining about them if you don't like them. They won't be big parts in the story if things go as planned!

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto or the Inheritance Cycle concepts!

* * *

Of Tests and Ukes

Six years later…

"Quieten down!!! Thank you, alright. This is your last day in this classroom and I have to tell you how proud I am of each and every one of you. You're all going to make great ninja so each of you-"

He's cut off by a quick knock at the door before it's pushed open and a blonde their age walks in.

"Hey Iruka, sorry I'm late. Tousan held me up. He still thinks I don't know about the exam in two months…" he looks at the class staring at him and smirks before continuing walking and taking a seat up the back, "You know where to put me by now."

Iruka sighed before nodding and trying to continue, only for the class to erupt in whispers.

He sighs, glaring at Naruto when he smirks at his distress, "QUIET!!!"

'ah, that's better' Evrae whispers in naruto's head, making him snicker slightly.

"Right, as I was saying, you're all now going out on your own but you've got to remember all we've taught you here, it's important as the base of your career. Now, I'm sure you all want to know which teams you're on and who you're going to be working with for the next few years…"

the whole class sit straighter at that, again causing Naruto to snicker and Iruka to cast him another annoyed glare.

"Anyway, Team one…"

* * *

Naruto blocked Iruka out, instead observing the kids around him as they learnt who their team mates were. It was amusing, some smiled, others nodded and some burst out into tears. When he noticed everyone slightly confused he tuned back in to what Iruka was saying, "And your Jounin Sensei is Hatake, Kakashi."

Eventually several people glanced towards him, surmising he must be the unknown graduate.

"Iruka-sensei! How come that midget is graduating!?! He never even sat the exam!" Kiba yells in frustration, several people agreeing with him.

Iruka sighs, 'Why does Naruto always cause me trouble?' "Kiba sit down. I can assure you, Naruto is _more_ than qualified," he stresses the 'more' but no one seems to pick up on it, except the Nara who perks slightly before looking disinterested again after glancing at Naruto to find him smirking back at him.

The class grumble a bit before silencing again as iruka finishes reading the list before dismissing them all for lunch.

Smirking, Naruto disappeared, planning a nice two hour long training session before returning, knowing there was no chance Kakashi would be on time for his genin team. 'Wonder if he'll pass them this time…?' he thinks to himself.

'Tch, doubt it. Both of them were too thick to realise the meaning of the test,' Naruto comments causing Evrae to snicker as he leaps down into his training field to find Kakashi at the memorial stone.

"Not planning on turning up on time then Tousan?" He asks cheekily only to receive a similar grin in return.

"Course not. I like to make people wait anxiously for me."

Naruto rolls his eyes but moves away from the jounin to begin his training whilst Kakashi follows to observe.

"You tell them you're a chuunin?" he asks, already knowing the answer for it was the same every time he got a genin team. Pretend to be one of them, wait until they fail and he doesn't, then explain how he's already passed and everything. Gets them everytime.

"You should know that already tousan." He smirked and began sparring against a clone in kenjutsu.

* * *

Three hours later, Sasuke was pissed. Not only had their jounin sensei still not come to collect them, but that strange kid who just appeared in their class to graduate hadn't appeared either.

'Tch, probably chickened out.' He thinks with a mental sneer whilst remaining completely impassive on the outside, wouldn't want his other team mate to somehow think him showing emotions meant he liked her. Honestly, he sneers at the girl and she goes all heart-eyed. It's pathetic, and he has to be on a team with her…

His thoughts are brought to an end as the door opens and the two missing members walk through, ending a conversation that had been flowing quickly seconds before.

Naruto jumped onto the desk nearest him and turned to look at Kakashi again, ignoring the glares from the two genins.

Kakashi spent several moments looking at the three of them, "My first thoughts of you… I hate you."

Naruto pulls the puppy eyes and Kakashi sweat drops, "Not you Naruto."

Naruto smiled wide, pleased to be excluded from his decision and glancing over at the other two who looked kind of… let down.

"Too bad for you, he might still warm up to you."

In return he got two angry glares before smirking and jumping off the desk as Kakashi spoke, "Meet me on the roof."

Naruto skips out the door, through the smoke clearing from kakashi's exit. However as he reaches the end of the corridor a hand stops him from going further. Looking at the hand he follows it back to the shoulder, then up to the patented Uchiha glare sent his way.

"Um, yeah?"

The raven glared harder, "How do you know our sensei?"

"What makes you think I know him?"

Sasuke's eyes narrow further, "You came in at the same time as him and both of you were having a conversation, why else would you be?"

Naruto merely shrugged, "Happy coincidence? Anyway, we'd best get going, don't want to keep sensei waiting!"

He shrugs the hand off and continues walking, smirking to himself as he hears the Uchiha huff lightly before following behind him.

* * *

Watching their faces as Kakashi announced there was still another exam to go was always humorous, and he always played along. Of course he never took part in the exam. Not so far anyway. If the genin were smart enough to figure it out and come to him then he would, otherwise he would just act the idiot then laugh at their shocked faces with Kakashi that night when they were told he had already passed. Still, he did always feel bad for the team who got Kakashi, he wasn't asking a lot from them, but when what he wants seems to hinder what you yourself want it's almost impossible to do well, especially when you don't know what he wants. 'Kya! I just confused myself!' shaking his head to clear it as he stands, making his way off the roof with loud proclamations of how he's going to pass kakashi's test easily!

"So, how'd you think they'll do?" Kakashi asks when they regroup at the training field.

Naruto shrugs, "Same as usual. The girl will want to work with Sasuke and he'll want to work alone. Apparently she's his 'No. 1 Fan!!!'" he says with a fairly decent imitation of her voice, causing Kakashi to flinch.

"There's always one…" he murmurs regretfully while Naruto nods his head sadly in agreement.

"Ah well, you know how to play it tomorrow, hopefully things will be different… guess we just have to wait and see."

With that Kakashi left for his bed, Naruto following just behind him.

'Ne, Evrae, what do you think about them?'

The dragon grumbles deep in its throat in thought, 'I think you may be counting them out too soon. Don't judge them just because of how all the others before have performed…'

They both go silent in contemplation as Naruto gets into his bed.

'Night Evrae.'

'Goodnight Naruto.'

* * *

Naruto enjoyed acting a fool. It was the exact opposite of his actual persona that it was just fun to cut loose and become someone he wasn't. That's why he enjoyed graduation each year. He enjoyed jumping head first into the most obvious traps and loosing spectacularly to Kakashi.

He didn't like that each year Kakashi used the 'Thousand Years of Pain' on him and he had to fall for it because he was meant to be a genin. and each year Kakashi took a sadistic joy in shoving his fingers up his a- his rear.

Which I suppose is why he actually wished that they would pass this year. He would miss out on the amusement of playing the fool, but watching them do d-rank missions – Kakashi had already promised him he could sit out for some of them if he wanted and claim he was using the time for his training instead – in itself would be amusement.

So, he decided he would enjoy today, on the off chance they did pass. That meant arriving at the 'proper' time and waiting for the hours before Kakashi arrived, ignoring the glares aimed at him by the Uchiha while pestering the rosette with constant questions and compliments. Not that she paid him any mind, she pestered the Uchiha instead so there was a circle of attention occurring: pester, glare, pester. Thank god Kakashi was only three and a half hours late with his usual lazy grin and pathetic excuse.

Mentally smirking to himself he joins in yelling at the jounin for being late, trying to be as annoying as he can for the day as he knows he's going to get put through hell in return while he 'can't' fight back.

And soon enough he felt he familiar feel of fingers jammed up his rectum before sending himself flying by forcing chakra from his feet for a comical effect. He felt kakashi's chakra fluctuate in amusement before he steadied it and began to hunt the others as Naruto slipped out of the water unseen by the genin and took a position in the forest to wait for them, not masking his chakra to give them a better chance to find him if they so chose.

They didn't, and as per usual Naruto finds himself tied to the wooden stump, wondering how long it'll be till he gets food but not too optimistic on the thought.

"All three of you should quit being ninjas!"

The two genin show shock, followed quickly by anger on sasuke's behalf as he charges the jounin, 'Foolish'.

Naruto tuned Kakashi out, knowing what he was saying. The test always played out this way… until he noticed sakura's hand shifting towards her kunai pouch. Apparently Kakashi noticed aswell for he continued immediately, "That's what could happen. You have to make the choice on who lives and who dies. I'll give the three of you another chance after lunch, just don't feed Naruto otherwise you all automatically fail."

He departed in a poof of smoke and for several minutes all was silent, Naruto unhappily resigned to having to wait another twenty minutes before he got food, against the wished of his stomach which growled angrily. He ignored it, spouting some nonsense about how he could manage and whatnot.

However he almost showed his true shock when one of the lunches was pushed under his nose, "Here, you need to eat something aswell…" He says stubbornly, looking away to hide the slight blush.

"But Sasuke-kun! Kakashi-sensei said not to feed him, otherwise we'll fail!" Sakura warns him seriously. "You can't be sent back to the academy just for this loser!"

Sasuke however doesn't move to retract the offer, "If we want to be able to pass after lunch all of us are going to have to be strong, and besides, I can't sense him anywhere near."

She still looks unsure but Sasuke just turns to Naruto, "Hurry up dobe!"

Naruto, still surprised they're actually passing, just motions to show how his hands are tied and sasuke's eye twitches in response as he picks up the chopsticks and offers a clump of rice to Naruto's lips which clamp around the chopsticks, drawing the rice from them with a slight amount of sensuality, trying to encourage Sakura to work together aswell.

What he doesn't expect is a slight blush to form on Sasuke's cheeks as he looks down, somewhat flustered, making a deal of picking up some daikon. However now Naruto was cackling to himself as he slowly encompassed the chopsticks with his lips, slowly sucking down their length, locking eyes with Sasuke who's blush deepens significantly.

'Who would have guessed Sasuke's gay…? So much for the Uchiha clan…' he thinks to himself.

However his thoughts were cut off by Kakashi's reappearance.

"YOU!!! You broke the rules and now you must receive the punishment!" he exclaims, pointing at Sasuke who tenses slightly.

Naruto speaks up, deciding to give them a push in the right direction in return for being fed for once, "But sensei! He only did what you said! We're a team!"

Sasuke relaxes slightly before nodding, "The three of us are one!"

Sakura hesitates slightly before backing them up, "Yeah, if you fail one of us, you fail us all!" 'Especially if it's Sasuke-kun!'

The black clouds that had appeared behind Kakashi disappear and he smirks slightly under his mask, "I guess I don't need to ask your opinion then?"

Naruto smirks back, appearing beside Kakashi in a poof and smiling at the two surprised genins, "Congrats, you pass!"

Kakashi chuckles at the confused looks on their faces, "Allow me to explain. Usually, when I tell a team something, they do it and without thinking about what I've already told them. They all fail, but you did good. You ignored my orders in favour of helping your comrade and that's the most important thing cause, in the world of shinobi, those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are lower than trash!"

Naruto smiles at that, looking down at the two still confused genin in glee, "You still confused?"

Sakura nods while Sasuke glares slightly. Taking that as a yes Naruto explains his role in the test, "Well the thing is… I already graduated the academy. I'm a chuunin. But chuunin are still under jounin sensei's and Kakashi's mine. So everytime graduation comes round I help him out with his final exam and pretend to be a genin. The whole point of this exercise is teamwork and you just showed that when you were willing to sacrifice your pass to help your team mate!" he smiles and winks quickly at Sasuke, angling his face so Sakura can't see. He's pleased when Sasuke looks away from him immediately, blushing at the action. Kakashi, who also hadn't seen naruto's wink, looks at him confused when the Uchiha looks away, but decides to ask Naruto about it later.

"Anyway, the two of you pass so we'll begin missions tomorrow. Meet at nine on the bridge. Ja ne."

He disappears in a poof and a few seconds later Naruto does too, after waving to his new, and first, teammates.

* * *

"So, why are you messing with the Uchiha Naruto?" Kakashi asks lazily when they arrive home. Naruto bursts out laughing at the thought as Kakashi waits impatiently for him to calm down.

"You know… how he said that… his ambition was… to restore the U… Uchiha clan? He… it… it's never going to happen!!! Sasuke… Sasuke's gay!!!"

Kakashi's eyebrow raises at his exclamation before he too chuckles at the thought, though not finding it nearly as humourous as Naruto.

"So, you're flirting with him already? Jeez Naruto, you just met him yesterday! You spent too much time with Jiraiya!"

Naruto sobers up, faux-glaring at Kakashi, "He's not the only pervert I have to put up with. I don't see where you get off lecturing me!"

Kakashi almost pouts at the blonde, "Atleast I don't flirt with people I don't know! I just have a fine taste in literature! It's healthy!"

Naruto snorts, "You call that crap literature? It's hardly worthy to be used as bog roll!!! And so what if I'm flirting with Sasuke, have you _seen_ his ass!?!"

Kakashi groans, letting his head fall into his hands, "Where did I go wrong!?! And he never showed any interest in girls… it's anko! Because he's grown up with her in such a revealing outfit it's just become boring to him… so he chose to chase guys!!!"

Naruto pouts, knowing Kakashi isn't meaning it seriously, "Don't pick fun at my sexuality!!! I _know_ you've got a thing for Iruka!!!"

Kakashi blushes slightly and coughs into his hand, "Well, he's just such an uke… who _wouldn't_ want a piece of him!?!"

Naruto rolls his eyes, "Um, most people. Besides Sasuke's got a way nicer ass! And can you image running your hands through his hair!?!"

"Well Iruka's got nice hair aswell, and a much better personality!!! Not to mention he's way cuter!"

Naruto huffs before smirking, "But Sasuke's a _Uchiha_!!! Can you imagine topping a Uchiha?!? I mean, it's not just about the sex, but come on!!! Their stubborn pride thing is such a turn on!!!"

Kakashi doesn't reply, apparently unable to make a come back after naruto's point, allowing Naruto to continue.

"And besides, did you see him today? He acts all tough but as soon as I put on the charm he's blushing like a school girl! Such a virgin!"

"Naruto… you're a virgin…"

Naruto smirks, "Yeah, but he acts it aswell."

Kakashi sweatdrops before shaking his head and walking away, muttering about kids.

'Ne, evrae, what'd you think 'bout Sasuke?'

The dragon chuckles, causing Naruto to pout, before he replies, 'His attitude could improve but I can see why you're attracted to him Little one. He's strong. He will become stronger.'

Naruto nods in agreement, 'But he's so focused on revenge… we'll just have to make him see that's not the only answer!'

Evrae hums in approval as Naruto slips into bed.

"Night evrae."

'Goodnight Naruto.'

* * *

So there it is. Some of you, as I said earlier, might not like the pairing, but that's how it is and I don't plan on making it a huge part.

Please don't message complaining about the pairing cause that's not going to change! But any other messages will be muchly appreciated!

That scene with Naruto talking about topping a Uchiha is for humour. I am in no way trying to offend anyone with it, Naruto was just being how I imagine him to be after growing up with Kakashi, Jiraiya and Anko... they're not the most conservative people about their feelings. And his relationship with Kakashi is going to end up being a mix between Father/Son and Brothers.

Till next time.


	7. Chapter 7

**A certain authoress would like to apologise for her extreme laziness in the art of updating. She suffers from a severe condition called 'Shikamaru-itus'. Unfortunately it is incurable.**

However, having actually just updated another one of my fics, then got a review for this one, I suddenly thought, 'Hey, I feel like updating!' so please forgive the length of this chapter, I'm doing my best to keep my motivation and this was the best place to stop! And I have actually made a (small) start on the next chapter! Same with Meldarion.

Soon I have two weeks off work before I go to uni, one of which is spent at my aunts, but is totally relaxed and I can get some work done then! So I'm going to try and really work on these fics!

For those reading 'Revenge' and wondering when the hell that's going to be updated, it is still thwarting me. Damn you Horowitz, for making your plots detailed and plausible, and thus making me feel there is a standard to meet!

Anyway, on with the incredibly short chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own a ninja, nor a dragon. However if I did, I would take over wizarding Britain, and force Harry and Voldie together, cause that's how it's meant to be!

* * *

When Motivation Returns!

Naruto liked his new teammates. They gave him great amusement when he and Kakashi turned up several hours later, only to be faced with a screaming fangirl and an Uchiha with a bad twitch. Naruto chuckled to himself, before bursting out laughing in his head, remaining calm and collected on the surface, as Kakashi was doing beside him whilst giving the lamest excuse Naruto had heard recently.

"So, you two are going to start your missions today! Best hurry up otherwise all the good ones will be gone!"

Naruto snickers slightly as the pressure in the air increases, aimed directly for Kakashi.

"Damn Kashi! They got killing intent mastered already!" Naruto jokes, mockingly, only to have the focus switched to him instead, which he just shook off.

"Come on then, off to the hokage's office!" Kakashi announces happily as he jumps off his post, Naruto following just behind him and both start on their way to the Hokage tower, the two genin following behind them grouchily.

Naruto smirked to himself, causing Kakashi to send him a curious glance over the top of his book. Slowing his walking down until he's next to Sasuke, ignoring the glares from the other one, he proceeds to simply continue walking, rather close to Sasuke's side. He felt the Uchiha tense slightly, before speeding his walk slightly, only for Naruto to easily keep pace beside him. Now the Uchiha was stuck, he couldn't outright _run_, so the only other option was the walk with the blonde.

"Lovely day, ne Sasuke?"

Sasuke jumps slightly at the sudden conversation before slouching again, "hn".

"Now that's no good Sasuke! You need to open up more! So we can practise our communication skills every morning from now on!"

The Uchiha tripped slightly on the path before straightening and glaring at Naruto, "I can talk fine, I choose not to."

"Well, I like to pester people and Kashi seems to have learnt to ignore me the majority of the times, so I need some fresh meat!" at that he allows his eyes to snake once over the boys body before smirking, not _quite_ lecherously.

The Uchiha shivered slightly before deciding he didn't care about his appearance, if running was what it took to get away from this blonde…

Thankfully he was saved the humiliation as the entrance to the Hokage tower came into view.

* * *

Naruto liked his new teammates. The twitches they developed when the two of them were sent on some trivial mission for the first time gave him a deep satisfaction. And it just grew when the Hokage then turned to him and gave him a delivery mission, followed immediately by two pissed off glares. They sure knew how to keep him amused.

So Naruto set out at full speed to a nearby village to deliver a scroll to the village leader from the Hokage. He was hoping to be able to have an hour or so with Evrae before returning, seeing him every few weekends just wasn't really enough! So on every mission he went on he went at full speed to try and give him a spare hour or so.

The mission itself went smoothly and he was quickly headed deeper into the forest, to the meeting point they had decided on for times such as these.

'You going to be long Evrae?' Naruto called mentally, chiding him for his lateness.

'I'll be there soon Naruto. Don't get your panties in a t-'

'Evrae…? Evrae!' Naruto screamed, panicking when there was no reply for several seconds.

The seconds turned into a minute and just as Naruto was preparing to spring in the direction he knew his dragon to be in Evrae spoke again.

'I'm sorry Naruto. Some ninja spotted me. I lost them but things are going to be more difficult from now on. I'm sorry.'

Naruto could hear the guilt in Evrae's voice and felt bad for having called him to meet today.

'It's all right Evrae… we can meet again soon. Did they… did they hurt you Evrae?'

'No Naruto, I could easily avoid anything they threw at me. They were merely Chuunin who took fright, but now rumours will start to spread. We will have to be much more careful from now on."

"We'll take it as it comes Evrae. Kakashi and I will do as much damage control as possible but if it comes to it, we'll come out to the Hokage. There isn't much he can do; you've never hurt anyone. It would be great if we could get passed the jounin exams at least before anything comes out."

Evrae hums in agreement before moving conversation on to more menial subjects, such as Naruto's pursuit.

* * *

It was strange for Team Seven. They had just set off on their first C ranked mission and it just felt off. Not only had they already been attacked by a pair of Chuunin level missing nins but the blonde Chuunin was away on a separate mission. He had been sent off by the Hokage, without a description of the mission, just a nod between the two, and none of them were any the wiser. Sasuke had a suspicion that Kakashi might know where the blonde was, but the jounin certainly wasn't giving anything away, except anxiety. That had been a week ago now and, though he didn't show it, Sasuke _was_ slightly worried for his teammate. On the first few days it had been a nice relief, knowing how the blonde felt for him if his piercing looks and occasional possessive hands were hint enough. He was just thankful Sakura hadn't noticed yet. That wouldn't be a pleasant encounter.

But now they were off on their first C rank mission and it was already proving to be more than expected. Kakashi had forced Tazuna to admit to incorrectly categorizing the mission purposefully, and, after facing the Demon Brothers, and Kakashi admitting that the next enemy will be even stronger, Sasuke could admit to being slightly concerned. Not that he didn't trust Kakashi; just having Naruto with them as well would have been nice. He swallowed and shook his head, focussing himself as they walked along the track and listening for any movement.

A twig snapped to his right and before his mind even processed the movement, a kunai threw straight through the bush to the origin of the noise. Sakura and Tazuna whirled to the place his kunai had landed, on guard, but Sasuke noticed Kakashi already looking in other directions. Not bothering to check where his kunai had landed, Sasuke also began to look for the opponent, positive they would have escaped the kunai with a kawarimi, ignoring Sakura as she pulled a white rabbit from the bush, and Tazuna as he groaned about a heart attack. Prepared as he was, when Kakashi yelled for them to duck he was ready to pull Tazuna to the ground as Kakashi dragged Sakura with him. Standing again, Sasuke quickly pulled Tazuna behind him as he turns to face the new opponent.

"Demon of the Hidden Mist: Momichi, Zabuza."

"Sharingan Kakashi."

It seemed impossible to both the genin, that their sensei was beaten by another shinobi. That he was held captive where he couldn't protect them. That he was telling them to leave him to his death and run with Tazuna. That the mission was more important than his life. It was going against what he had taught them, but in this situation, what else could they do? Sakura took a stumbling step backwards, reaching out blindly and grasping onto tazuna's arm. She twisted her whole body, beginning to move in the opposite direction. And in that she missed the split second movement that sent Zabuza flying across the water surface.

The blonde straightened, unsheathing a katana simultaneously, glaring murderously across at the swordsman.

"_No one_ messes with Tousan."

* * *

Zabuza grunted, picking himself up from the waters surface as the newcomer pulled Hatake from the water.

They exchanged brief greetings before Hatake took several steps to stand slightly back from the blonde, during this Zabuza took the time to look over his new enemy, recognition soon entering his mind.

"Ah, the Hatake brat. In the bingo book since the age of 6 when you became a genin under Hatake Senior. Then higher ranked in my book when you reached Chuunin at age 8, and now a Jounin I see, at… 12 is it? Impressive. And I thought my day would get no better after butchering Hatake. Show us what you've got, kid."

Naruto gave him a brief second after his monologue, before charging, drawing his katana as he paced across the water between them.

Surprised by this head-on assault, Zabuza waits until the jounin is too close to avoid at such a speed, before swinging his blade in a horizontal arc, preparing for an assault from the real shinobi, assuming this one is a clone for diversion.

However, the blonde allows the blade to come at him, not moving his katana to block as he lets his legs move before him and nimbly arcs his back under the blade, his hands moving under him to support his weight as he brings his legs up, planting them in Zabuza's face before pushing up and flipping back onto his feet. Using the moment of unawareness his kick caused the missing nin, Naruto swipes forward with his blade, slicing the bicep of the arm holding his sword, the resulting spasms followed by an unusable arm, causing him to drop the sword as his other arm grasps the blood soaked appendage.

The mist nin jumps back, warily watching the teen as he flicks the blood off his sword before taking a step forward.

Before he can lift his good arm to form a block, another kick is landed on his chest, sending him flying off the water and skidding across the dirt, the opposite side to the watching genin.

A quick shunshin lands Naruto at the lakeshore, approaching the downed shinobi. However two senbon flicker through the air, piercing simultaneously into the neck of the missing-nin.

Moments later a hunter nin lands next to the body, placing an arm over their shoulder.

"Thank you for your assistance, shinobi. I have been tracking this missing-nin for several weeks now."  
Naruto merely nods before stretching his katana out to place parallel to the senbon at Zabuza's neck.

"Allow me the privilege, hunter-nin?" he asks, watching the nin tense before flickering away with a slight breeze.

"Hm" Naruto voices to himself before pulling a rag to wipe his katana with from his pouch and resheathing it.

Returning to the lake, Naruto smiles at his adopted father, "Told you I'd get there a year before you!" he declared, pointing at his Jounin vest, a cocky smirk.

* * *

Authors notes!

**Naruto**, genin – 6

Chuunin – 8

Jounin – 12

**Kakashi**, genin – 5

Chuunin – 6

Jounin - 13

Apparently, took that from wiki I think. Or google. Somewhere. If it's wrong, do inform me!

Sorry about how short it is!

Also it's important to note that fight scenes _are not _my forte!

If people are going to comment on how easily Zabuza was beaten, firstly Kakashi is not that easy an opponent, so he will have worn him out partly, and Zabuza has just beaten Kakashi, he's kinda cocky at that point.

On another note, the title of this chapter had nothing to do with the story, was more a reflection on my inability to update.


	8. Chapter 8

Fairly quick update, ne? But be warned, Shikamaru-itus can reappear at any time!

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto: Sasuke, Naruto and Itachi would be making out (don't tell me about the wrongness of incest, because I'll tell you the rightness of Uchihacest); Kakashi would be with some guy, possibly Iruka; Jiraiya would be writing yaoi novels and with Orochimaru; Lee would gel his hair up (if you haven't seen that picture, type "Rock Lee hair gel" into Google Images! and Neji and Gaara would be happily screwing each other! Just some small differences really...

* * *

Chapter 8 - Quickly, through Wave

Naruto smiled. They had two high-powered ninja preparing to kill them and were currently living with an annoyingly loud brat… but watching the two genin stare in shock as Kakashi walked up a tree using his chakra just brought back the memories. Evrae's birth seemed so long ago now.

'Reminiscing, Naruto?' Evrae hummed in his head.

'Yeah, I can't believe I couldn't get this! Just seems so simple now,'

'Hmm, well I can't believe I nearly drowned into about a foot of water. How was I ever so small?' he asks, sending Naruto a mental picture of his head reaching easily into the trees.

Naruto's frown dwindled, a sad look entering his eyes. 'You've grown so much and it's been so many years and I still see you so little. I… I'm sorry Evrae. I've hardly been the Rider you deserve. I'll talk to the Hokage when we get back from this nightmare,' he pauses, thinking of the death glares the Hokage had been handing out like candy because of the up-coming Chuunin Exams. 'Or maybe I'll wait until after the Chuunin Exams, don't want to bother the man just now…' he trailed off, sending Evrae an image of the last time he had interrupted the hokage during his preparations for the exams. The memory still gave him the shivers.

Evrae gave a rumbling cough, but Naruto somehow managed to pick up on the muttered 'Coward' somewhere in the middle.

'Hey, the old man could skin a kyuubi with that glare! Or a dragon for that matter, so no mocking!'

'No-one's taking my skin! The hours I put into keeping it this shiny will not be wasted!'

Naruto just shook his head; trust him to have a dragon whose main priority was skincare.

He drew himself back to reality as Kakashi threw kunai at the genins' feet, telling them to get started.

* * *

They sat round the worn wooden table as usual that night. Tsunami handed each Naruto-clone two plates which they brought to the table before dispersing themselves.

It had been the same the passed few nights, and they then ate in silence. However, Tazuna placed his chopsticks down temporarily and looked at the ninja sitting opposite him. "So… you're a jounin now aswell?" he aimed at Naruto, trying to start any conversation.

"Yeah, before coming here I was in Suna for the exams which _someone_ seemed to think I had no idea of. And I do believe that, being only 12 years old and at the more-than-respectable rank of jounin, a certain ninja owes me a certain reward…" Naruto smirks, triumphantly at Kakashi

The jounin gave a tired sigh, thinking of his poor savings that had drastically diminished since taking on the young jinchuuriki. 'Note to self: no more gambling with Naruto, he always wins.'

"Ma, ma. Whatever you say, brat."

Naruto glares at the name, before smirking cruelly, "I think your stash of Icha, Icha novels will do: they'll make good fuel for the fire on the way back."

Those observing the elder jounin would tell others that he looked like his puppy had been brutally slaughtered right before his eyes, before being force-fed it's remains in a watery broth.

"Na… Naruto… you wouldn't! Anything else! Anything you want!"

Naruto frowned, in thought. "I'll think of something, but don't think I'm not going to cash it in eventually. You owe me, Kashi."

Kakashi shrunk in on himself, idly drawing patterns on the table with his index finger whilst Tazuna patted him consolingly on the back, "Indebted to your twelve year old son! How much worse could it get?"

* * *

Naruto briefly flashed back to that moment whilst standing on a bridge opposite Zabuza and his accomplice with only himself between them and Tazuna.

''How much worse' indeed. Dammit Kashi! You said we had one more day! The needles mustn't have gone as deep as we thought!'

Zabuza laughed, obviously pleased with the turn of events at finding only one jounin ready to fight him.

"Though I'm upset I won't get to finally beat Sharingan Kakashi, I'm rather pleasantly surprised to find only you hear, brat! Did you not figure out that I'd be back?"

Naruto's teeth ground against each other before he summoned an army of clones, taking up a great area of the bridge.

"I wouldn't get too cocky," Naruto said before another clone continued, then another:

"It was a simple miscalculation as to the entry angle,"

"And depth of penetration."

"You should have been out another day."

"That is, if a competent ninja had fired the senbon."

"Your accomplice seems more than proficient with them."

The Narutos smirk, simultaneously.

"But I'm more than proficient in clones and shunshin, so my teammates will be here in ten tops. And, not to sound cocky but, I'll have no problem holding you off until they're here."

The leading Naruto smirked, before nodding to two clones, either side of him. With relish they dashed towards the opposing duo, one pulling two kunai as the other drew a katana.

The true Naruto grimaced slightly, watching as Zabuza easily cut through the clones, before motioning his accomplice to make his move.

Naruto's eyes widened, along with those of his clones, as the masked ninja carried out two sets of one-handed seals simultaneously before finishing and declaring the title:

"Makyō Hyōshō!" (Demonic Ice Crystal Mirrors)

From the watery grounds, thin sheets of ice slowly rose, circling entirely around the mass of clones occupying the bridge.

Naruto looked back to the front as the hunter-nin moved forwards and stepped into the mirror.

"Oh, shi… Doton: Doro Gaeshi!"

The words echoed on all sides and Naruto quickly shook off a flashback of his first time using this technique to win his first bet with Kakashi. Thankfully, since then he had greater chakra control and was overall, much stronger.

With this jutsu, in a split second, he had managed to raise an earthen wall a meter from the circle of ice mirrors.

He received the memories of fifty-odd clones that were left outside of the defence – one, unfortunately being the clone posing as his original self after he used a kawarimi to integrate himself with the masses.

He now stood next to Tazuna, who he had crouching on the ground to make himself as small a target as possible.

Thinking quickly, he reviewed his knowledge of the mirrors. Several of the clones had managed to get a kunai out before they were dispelled, but it had done absolutely no damage and the ice-user seemed to be in every mirror at once. This was a kekkei genkai.

From the positioning of the mirrors, Naruto calculated that it would be possible to reflect from one to another, easily covering each mirror as they had only a few degrees between each, angularly. Using this assumption as the first basis for the technique, thus assumed that the ninja was, in fact, in one place at one time and was reflecting from one mirror to the next.

However, to give the impression of being everywhere at once, he had to be moving at the sp- 'Of course!' Naruto hit himself mentally. 'If the ninja is inside the mirrors, he's using the speed of light, which is the reflections, to transport himself!'

Finding himself out of time as his defence starts crumbling under a mighty blast of water, he quickly runs through handseals as the rest of his clones start gathering their chakra.

"Kokuangyo no Jutsu!" (Bringer of Darkness) he announced, as the walls turned to mud and collapsed to his feet.

For barely two seconds, both Zabuza and his companion found themselves disorientated as their vision is replaced with darkness, leaving Haku unable to move between the mirrors (1) and in this small margin of time, the Naruto clones surge outwards, each powered with a Rasengan and forcing their way through a mirror.

Naruto smirks as Zabuza dispels the genjutsu just in time to witness the hunter-nin roll several times before finishing at his feet.

Pushing his advantage, Naruto, amidst several clones, dashed forwards, swords drawn to engage the missing-nin.

Unfortunately for him, Zabuza reacted instantaneously, taking away any advantage he had and leaving them on an even playing field again.

Their swords clashed many times, Zabuza succeeding in destroying the Naruto-clones and placing several small slices on the original, identifying it from the clones.

Naruto's arms ached, he had never fought someone so fiercely with a sword before. When he sparred with Hayate, he would be fearful for the ailing man and would not feel comfortable giving his best, and Hayate was the best at Kenjutsu in the village!  
Not to mention using so many rasengans and a high-powered genjutsu simultaneously had worn him out significantly.

He barely noticed when Zabuza smirked before pushing him away, thankful for the short pause to regain his breath.

"You should pay more attention to your surroundings, brat. I'm not your only enemy!"

No matter how much he wanted, Naruto would not turn around to locate the partner. Instead he dispelled several clones in different areas, only to catch the motion of a handful of senbon becoming airborne, the split-second before they hit their target.

Grimacing, Naruto sighed before smirking as a small 'poof' resonated across the bridge.

"And you shouldn't underestimate your enemies' cunning. You really thought I'd leave the bridge builder in the middle of this fight? A clone at the back henge'd and kawarimi'd with him the moment they're created. He's safe back at his house now and, in, let's say about ten seconds, the rest of my team will be here to assist. Let's face it Zabuza, you're losing. Especially as your buddy over there has barely any chakra left and is going to collapse."

The instant he said that both of his predictions came to pass. Kakashi landed to his left, Sasuke by the, now collapsed, assistant, and Sakura further back, out of harm's way.

Sasuke, at a look from Kakashi, bent down to the nin and pressed two fingers to his pulse point.

"They're still alive, but unconscious, suffering chakra depletion, exhaustion and injuries," he explained. (2)

Naruto looked to Kakashi for permission, for he was still the mission leader, and received a nod in return, allowing Naruto to continue on to negotiations.

"We'll let you leave and take your partner with you if you forget about trying to kill Tazuna or do any harm to the wave country. Otherwise myself and Kakashi will destroy you, receive the bounty and take your kekkei genkai friend back to Konoha with us."

Zabuza chuckled, before it transformed into a full-blown laugh. "I don't care about that brat. You can take Haku, he's just a weapon to me and he's obviously outlived himself. However, if you think I'll give up on this mission when there's such a large reward for the bridge-builder's head you've got another thing coming!" he continued to laugh, manically.

Naruto frowned, "I would wait until you find out why Gatou's here now before making your final decision. It could be important."

Zabuza looked over his shoulder at the growing crowd of thugs, surrounding a small, squat man in the centre.

"Gatou, what're you doing here?" he growls.

* * *

Naruto smirked to himself, proud of the outcome of his first mission as a jounin.

After Gatou arrived on the bridge, he announced that Zabuza was too costly and couldn't do his job anyway, so he wouldn't be paid.

Due to this backstabbing, many heads departed their bodies, sustaining the carnivorous fish that dwelled in the water below.

Having discovered he wouldn't receive pay, and removed Gatou from the face of the planet, Zabuza found himself, sheepishly, more willing to agree to the terms Naruto lay down previously.

All in all, for Sasuke (who had geared himself up for a spectacular final show-down), it was rather anti-climatic.

So, after explaining to Kakashi what had taken place, reassuring Evrae that he was _fine_, and didn't blame him for hunting further away, they left upon the completion of the bridge.

* * *

(1) Not really sure if this would work cause genjutsu can confuse me. However, this is how I see it: Haku needs light because he uses the reflections it creates to move between his mirrors. The genjutsu Naruto used made him believe he was in complete darkness (apparently this is used by the first or second hokage, not sure which, but I haven't seen that happen yet so sorry if my usage is wrong). In the time when Haku can't move from the mirror he's in, before he can dispel the genjutsu, naruto's clones blow the mirrors to pieces with rasengans. I'm pretty sure they'd be more effective than Sasuke's attack in the anime, cause rasengan's just kick-ass!

Hopefully that makes sense!

(2) I figure, even regular ninja would be able to diagnose things like these, not just medical ninja.

I didn't really think the Gatou-betrayal part had to be written, as it goes pretty much the same. And he's kinda annoying, like Inari so they both didn't get much screen time.

This Naruto-clone plan for the bridge battle was actually a plan I had for another story, one where Kakashi doesn't actually realise that Zabuza's still alive and thus Naruto is left to fight on his own.

Unfortunately, knowing me, it'll never be published, so if anyone's up for the challenge, let me know so I can read it and give you more of an idea of what was planned!

So that's the Wave over with, extremely quickly, though hopefully originally enough. I will repeat this again: I SUCK AT FIGHT SCENES! Please don't feel the need to tell me how rubbish they were. what creativity I have doesn't extend that far.

However we're soon moving on to more important plots! YAY!

Thanks for reading and hopefully the next chapter will emerge from the woodwork sometime in 2010!


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